Matters of Trust
by markaleen
Summary: Sequel to Crossroads. Alex and Elaine have been together for a little over a year and things couldn't be more wonderful. That is until one night someone very unexpected knocks on the door: Arnie Ross. Does he have plans to win Elaine back? After a series of events, Elaine and Alex are forced to reevaluate their relationship.
1. A Lot Of Happenings

**I don't own Taxi, just sharing a fic.**

**This is a sequel to my story Crossroads. Just want to note that if you've read that story before this one was published that Kathryn's name has been changed to Gwen (I reuploaded her chapters in Crossroads so the names match now). She is still the same character just with a new name.**

**This was written for NaNoWriMo 2013. Hope you all enjoy!**

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><p>Alex Reiger and Elaine Nardo were finally together, and the last year (give or take a couple of months) had been better than either of them could've imagined. You see, Elaine had moved to Chicago with her (then) boyfriend, Arnie Ross. She didn't really want to move, but she was dedicated to Arnie. As far as she was concerned, that was going to be the beginning of a new life. Chicago had even begun growing on her… That was until she came across a letter Alex had written her. He'd never sent it though. Elaine had found it by the trashcan back at the garage. Seeing her name on the mysterious, crumpled piece of paper, she picked it up. Unfortunately, before she had gotten the chance to read it, Arnie came in saying that they had to go if they wanted to get breakfast before heading to the train station. She stuffed the letter in her bag and then completely forgot about it for months. When she first read it, she wished she had never remembered.<p>

The letter read:

_Dear Elaine,_

_ There has been something that I have wanted to tell you for what feels like forever but whenever I was given the opportunity I wimped out. Anyways, what I have to say is that I love you. I love you so much. I love the way you talk, I love the way you laugh, I adore your smile… but I also love our friendship, and that has always been what's stopped me from telling you how I feel. Lord knows that I've been given many chances to confess. I came so close to telling you once… that last night in Europe we spent together. I will never forget that for as long as I live. Being able to kiss you, and to be close to you, and even just being able to hold your hand. It was possibly one of the best nights of my life. What stopped me from telling you then was that fact that we had agreed to spend that night together saying it was a one-time thing and that our friendship was strong enough to survive it. If I told you then who knows what could have happened? It could have been absolutely terrible or absolutely wonderful. Then again, I wasn't in the best frame of mind so that could have complicated things. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter much now… Anyway, as I'm writing this I am definitely regretting not telling you how I feel when I had the chance. I'm writing this, even though I'd never send this to you, in hopes of some sort of closure I guess. You've moved on with your live and I guess it's time that I've moved on with mine. I keep trying to tell myself that I'm beyond happy for you. But the truth of the matter is that, yes, I am happy for you because you seem like you're happy and that's important to me; yet at the same time I can't help but feel selfish sadness, bitterness, anger, and hurt. I guess I'll have to leave it up to time to heal those feelings. No one has made me feel the way that you make me feel before, not even my ex-wife. And I don't think anyone else will ever make me feel this way. I don't even know if I can put the feeling to words. It's a comfort to be around you and I feel wonderful when I'm around you. I miss you when you're not around and I could just listen to your voice for hours... Well… I guess I'll just have to get used to you not being around. I guess I've been pretty silly this whole time anyway. You've been dating other people as have I. Though, I guess as much as I tried to deny my feelings for you, they always came through when I was with other women which I'm sure scared them off. Or I just ended it with them for a dumb reason. Deep down I am very happy for you and Arnie but as of right now I'm still very sad about the whole thing; especially about the fact that he is taking you away to Chicago… I'm glad you came and found me so you could say goodbye. I'm sure that would have become another thing that I would regret. Hopefully saying goodbye the way we did helped with giving me closure._

_I still hope to see you again someday._

_I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you..._

_Just wanted to make up for all the times that I wished I had said it… though that hardly covers it._

_I really do love you and I will miss you more than anything… Thank you for all the wonderful memories you have given me._

_Love,_

_Alex_

Needless to say, it caused a lot of conflict for Elaine. She had always been aware of the fact that there was something special between her and Alex, but she- they… never really acted on it. Sure, they had shared some moments, but when it came down to it, they were both too afraid of ruining their friendship. When Elaine read Alex's letter, everything she ever felt for him came back. Trying to fight her feelings worked briefly, but after a favor Alex did for her in Chicago, there was no denying how she truly felt any longer. She broke up with Arnie, moved back to New York, and told Alex everything that had happened. Ever since, they had been together. She got her old job back at the Hazeltine Gallery, her old job at the garage (she'd never admit it out loud, but the garage—in a way—felt like home to her. Her closest friends were there (as well as Alex), how could it not feel that way?) On top of that, she was even able to get an apartment in her old building. Another reason she was glad to be home was because Simka had finally had a baby, and it killed her that she wasn't there to help her through the pregnancy. Also, Amanda was her Godchild; she wanted to be there for her. Even though it wasn't the biggest title in the world, it meant a lot to Elaine.

New York City was always her home, and even though she was beyond happy to be with Alex, she did feel a bit sad about leaving Chicago. She'd made a couple of very good friends, Gwen Johnston (an artist who's paintings had been featured at the Eldridge Gallery where Elaine worked in Chicago) and Golda Smuckler (the chief curator at the Eldridge). Jennifer (Elaine's daughter) also had become very good friends with Gwen's daughter Soleil. Lastly, she couldn't stop herself from feeling so horrible about how things ended with Arnie. He was a good man; even though towards the end he seemed to care more about work and friends than he did for her, Jason (Elaine's son), and Jennifer. She kept in contact with Gwen and Golda when she moved back to New York- especially Gwen. Soleil and Jennifer wrote to each other as well. She missed them dearly, and wished she could have brought them back to New York as well. Then everything would be one hundred percent perfect.


	2. A Letter To Gwen

_Dear Gwen,_

_ I loved reading your last letter! Congratulations on selling the painting! You've been doing so well lately. Thanks for sending me the pictures, they look incredible! I wish I could see them in person. I'm glad Soleil is well. Jennifer misses her terribly. She keeps asking me to take her to Chicago to visit... I kind of like the idea. I would love to see you too. What do you think?_

_ Work has been well. The gallery just had an exhibit opening last week: for once, something didn't go horribly wrong. Though, one of the paintings refused to hang straight. The poor artist couldn't stand it. At first I thought he was completely over reacting, but then I thought of something you said to me once about how when you look up at your work on that wall, you get such a feeling of accomplishment. I guess a crooked painting puts a damper that feeling. _

_Oh, I need to tell you about this fare I had the other night. So a father of two gets in my cab. He barely speaks English and the kids speak none. He tells me to drive to Long Island. The whole car ride the youngest kid is crying and the older one was complaining about the other's crying as far as I could tell. The father is trying to keep them both calm. At the end of the __**very **__long ride, he gives me a thirty dollar tip. Can you believe that? I figured he had made a mistake because like I said, he didn't speak English very well so I naturally assumed he was new to the country. He held up his hand and said, "No, no. You've been a saint. Most drivers would kick us out of car. Thank you." How sweet is that? I tell ya, you can pick up some pretty scummy people when you drive a cab; but sometimes it's all worth it. And I don't just mean the money- though it __**was**__ a delightful bonus. _

_ How does Soleil like school? Did she have a hard time adjusting after break? Jason sure did, Jennifer not so much. And how was your Christmas? Did you do anything special? This was the first time I've had the kids for the holidays in years so I went a little crazy… I threw a Christmas party. It was a lot of work but with a lot of help from Simka, Alex, and the kids I managed to pull it off. I can't believe how much Amanda has grown. She already looks so much like her mother- and Simka loves it. She's been walking quite a bit lately-as well as babbling. She's got such a cute little voice. But that's no surprise given how her parents speak. I know, I know; you never believe me when I tell you how Latka and Simka sound. But you'll meet them someday and you'll see for yourself that I haven't been exaggerating! _

_ To answer your question about how Alex and I have been doing… yes! We've been doing wonderfully. But isn't that what I always say? It's true though. Sure, we have stupid arguments from time to time but we always have; some more serious than others of course. I was actually just thinking the other day about one we had a few months ago… it was probably the silliest one we've ever had. Okay, maybe second silliest. The silliest was one we had before we got together, about me playing along with Jennifer's Pokey doll's funeral. What made it silly was that I ended up saying that the toy had feelings and emotions like any other toy… anyways, this one was still pretty silly. We were taking the kids to see __The Muppets Take Manhattan__ and during the car ride we started arguing about what came first, __Sesame Street__ or __The Muppets__. He insisted __The Muppets__ came first but I knew for a fact that it was __Sesame Street__. The kids thought we were crazy. I won-just needed to clear that up. You don't have two kids and not know which came first. But hey, I'll take stupid, pointless debates like that over big arguments about things like Tony's boxing or the subject we argue most about: gambling. But I'll save those for another day._

_ I miss you terribly and can't wait to hear from you. And again, let me know what you think about us coming to visit._

_ Love, from your friend,_

_ Elaine._

Elaine finished her letter to Gwen just as Alex, Tony, Jim, and Latka came into Mario's and joined her at the table. "Hey," she greeted everyone and then quickly gave Alex a kiss. "Where were you guys?" she asked. Tony answered, "Eh, some guy came in and complained about one of the drivers so Louie interrogated all of us."

Elaine looked confused, "Since when does Louie take a complaint so seriously?" she wondered.

Alex answered, "Since the guy was a cop." Noticing the paper in her hand, he questioned. "That a letter to Gwen?" Elaine smiled. "Yep, and I need to go run this to a mailbox before the mailman comes to pick it up." As she stood up, she concluded, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Once Elaine was gone, Jim questioned, "Is that th-the same Gwen she wrote to a couple weeks ago?"

"Yeah," Alex answered. "Why Jim?" he then asked, and which Jim answered, "What are the odds?" Alex just rolled his eyes.


	3. Dinner, Dishes, And A Confession

"Jason, Jennifer, come on out. Alex is here." Elaine called when she heard knocking at the door. "Alex!" The two kids quickly ran out of their bedroom and opened the door for Alex, greeting him with hugs. They absolutely adored Alex and were always excited to see him (even though they saw him quite frequently). Elaine walked over to Alex and said to Jason and Jennifer, "Okay, go wash up for dinner now." Once they were out of the room, Elaine greeted Alex the way she always did: by throwing her arms around him and giving him this biggest kiss possible… if no one else was around of course. "Hi."

During dinner, Jason took over the conversation by telling Alex all about the project he was working on for school. One of the things Elaine loved most about Alex was that he was always genuinely interested in the kids' lives. Most of the guys she had dated barely gave them a second thought. Listening as Jason spoke and watching while Alex listened brought on a warm, happy feeling-a feeling that everything was right.

While Elaine and Jennifer cleaned up after dinner, Alex and Jason put the on game. Normally Jennifer wouldn't be so eager to clean, but it beat watching a sport she knew very little about and had no desire to learn more. Elaine agreed, though, she'd gotten used to sports being on or discussed; almost to the point where she understood them. With Jason and Alex distracted, Elaine took this opportunity to talk to Jennifer about maybe visiting Chicago. "So Jennifer, I've been bouncing an idea around in my head and I want to know what you think about it."

"What is it?" she questioned as she took the plate Elaine had handed her to dry. Elaine answered, "I know you've been missing Soleil, and I've been missing Gwen... so I was wondering what you thought about us going to visit them?"

"Yes! Let's go right now!" Jennifer screeched. Setting down the plate, she started running to her room while shouting back, "I'll start packing!" Elaine laughed and called after her. "Jennifer, wait!" She stopped and Elaine continued, "I don't mean right this second. I still have to hear back from Gwen." Jennifer frowned and then sighed, "Oh." As she slowly walked back to the kitchen, Jason asked, "What was that all about?" Jennifer just rolled her eyes, "What do you care?" Jason, whose eyes had remained glued to the television until now, turned and looked at Jennifer, "I heard something about packing. If we're going to Disneyland then I care a lot." Simply ignoring her brother, Jennifer returned to the kitchen. She took the next plate Elaine handed her as she asked, "So when would we be going?" Elaine shrugged, "I'm not sure. I would like to go soon though." The next question took her by surprise. "Would we be visiting Arnie too?" Elaine stammered, "Well, uh, no… we broke up, remember?"

"Yeah, but aren't you two still friends?"

Elaine wasn't sure what to say; she had barely even thought of Arnie since she had left. Naturally, of course she had thought of him early on; she felt absolutely horrible about how their relationship ended… but she hadn't thought of him in a long while. Finally, she answered, "I don't know. I mean, I'm sure he's hurt by the break up. I haven't spoken to him since we left Chicago." Jennifer frowned. "Okay."

"Why? Do you miss him?" She asked hesitantly. Not wanting to upset her mother with the answer, Jennifer fibbed. "No, I was just wondering." Elaine could see through the lie and kneeled down to be eye to eye with her daughter. "Sweetie, it's okay to tell me that you miss him. It wasn't really fair of me to make such a quick decision to leave like I did."

"No, I'm happy that we're back in New York; other than Soleil being so far away. I love that you're with Alex because I really love him…"

"But…?"

"But I still think of Arnie sometimes." she shyly admitted. "He was fun. Remember how he would help us put on puppet shows for you?"

Elaine partially smiled at the distant memory, "Yeah… those were so cute."

Jennifer sighed, "I guess we could still put on shows for you. Maybe Alex would even help. Maybe he would even be in them! Arnie never wanted too. He said he had stage fright."

"I'm sure he'd love too." She smiled as she stood up, "I'll get the rest of the dishes. You can go play in your room or watch TV with Alex and your brother." Jennifer contemplated a moment: she really didn't want to watch the game, but after admitting that she missed Arnie, she wanted to make sure Elaine knew that she really was happy that Alex was in their lives.


	4. A Lovely Evening

After she finished cleaning, Elaine joined Alex and the kids in the living room. They all sat and watched TV until it was Jason and Jennifer's bedtime. After they got ready for bed and Elaine tucked them in, she went back out into the living room and snuggled up next to Alex. He put his arm around her as she picked up the remote and turned the television down. "Sorry," she said, "I don't want to keep the kids up." she explained. "That's fine." he responded.

When a commercial came on, Alex asked, "So what were you and Jennifer talking about earlier? You know, when she flew through the apartment?" he joked. Elaine chuckled, "I was asking her what she thought about taking a trip to Chicago to visit Gwen and Soleil."

"You been thinking of going?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "just for a weekend or something. I don't know… I just know that poor Jennifer misses Soleil like crazy and I've missed Gwen. We were becoming such great friends when I left…" Alex agreed, "Yeah, I know. You've really have been missing her haven't you?" Elaine nodded, then Alex anxiously went on, "Would I have to go?" She sat up and looked at him, confused. "You wouldn't **have **too, no. Why? Do you not want to go?"

Uneasily, Alex shrugged while he searched for an answer. "I don't know… I guess it would just feel kind of funny, you know? I mean, you lived there with Arnie. I'd feel strange being there." Understandingly, Elaine smiled, supposing it **would** feel funny to be there again given her past, but she really wanted to see Gwen and Golda and all of the other people at the Eldridge. It's not like she'd be seeing Arnie—she had no desire too. Sure, she had a few good times with him, but her life was so much better now. However, she was still feeling bad about they ended (especially after having been reminded earlier in the evening). But when those thoughts came she had to remember that Arnie really didn't give her that much attention towards the end. Even if she hadn't been in love with Alex things probably wouldn't have worked out. Though, she did wish that she had been more thoughtful about how it affected the kids—but they **did** say that they were okay with moving home. Jason didn't show any signs of feeling loss from Chicago; it was definitely Jennifer who had been affected most. Visiting Chicago would be good for her. "You're okay with me going though, aren't you?" she asked. Alex answered, "Yes, of course I am. I would just feel weird if **I** went. Besides, you'll be so busy with Gwen that I'd just get in the way." he smiled. Laughing, she playfully hit him. "Oh come on, you could never get in the way. But I understand." She concluded the discussion by kissing him lightly before she snuggled back up against him.

She ended up falling asleep before the game was over and was awoken by Alex putting a blanket over her, gently kissing her cheek before leaving. When she stirred and opened her eyes, she saw him heading out. "Alex?" He turned around, "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"It's okay." she replied while sitting up. Alex closed the door and came back in. Apologetically, she explained, "I'm sorry that I fell asleep. It's been a long week at the gallery."

"Don't worry about it." He sat back down next to her. "So are we still on for the play tomorrow night?"

"Yep," she nodded, "Vince will be here to pick up the kids around four. I was thinking we could grab some dinner before heading to the theater."

"Sounds good." Taking her hand, he started fiddling with her fingers as he spoke, "Dinner will be on me though." She smiled and took his other hand in her own, "Well thank you; any particular reason?" she questioned and Alex answered, "Because you need to save your money for Chicago." he winked. Endeared, she laughed and kissed him—a perfect way to end an already lovely evening.


	5. A Letter From Gwen

Elaine entered the garage, beaming, "I got a letter from Gwen!" The guys were busy with their card game, so any joy they expressed for her was half-hearted. "That's great, Elaine." Alex said, glancing at her quickly. "What does it say?" he asked, knowing that it would probably be about her much anticipated visit. "I don't know," Elaine answered, "I haven't opened it yet." Sitting sat down on the bench, she quickly ripped open the envelope:

_Dear Elaine,_

_ I would love__for you to come and visit! I know Soleil would love it too. I'm going to let it be a surprise; otherwise I'll never hear the end of it! Just kidding, I really __**would**__ like to surprise her. When were you thinking of coming? Any time that works for you is fine with me. And if you were planning on getting a room: don't bother. You're more than welcome to stay with us. _

_ I'm glad to hear you had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was pretty good; no big parties or anything—just a nice quiet time at home. Amanda sounds so adorable. And you're right; I don't believe you about their voices! You make it sound like they've inhaled a bunch of helium or something. Someday I'll get to New York… and I'll see for myself!_

_ I'm also glad that you and Alex are well. Can you believe that it's been over a year since you guys got together? As happy as I am for you two, I'll admit that I wish you hadn't moved away. But I can tell through your letters and by the sound in your voice when we talk on the phone that you are so much happier now than you were when I met you. I guess you'll have to just visit more often! Or I should go visit you. You know how much I want to see New York City._

_ Do you know how long you plan on staying? The kids would be coming with you too, right? How about Alex? Sorry to shower you with questions—I'm just so excited! Could you call me so we can talk about this more? I think it'd be easier to plan that way. So yeah, call me when you get a chance._

_ Love, your friend,_

_ Gwen_

Elaine grinned at the letter, now feeling even more excited than before. It then occurred to her… _why did I read this before I'm about to drive an eight hour shift? I don't want to wait to call her… _she silently complained before walking over to Alex. Handing him the letter, she said, "I'm going to call her tomorrow afternoon. Jennifer will be bouncing off the walls I'm sure." While Alex smiled at Elaine's excitement, Tony chimed in, "You thinking of going to Chicago, Elaine?" She continued to grin and nodded. "Yeah, just for a visit."

"Good, because you're not allowed to move again." he joked, knowing well that she wouldn't be moving again. Elaine laughed and assured, "Absolutely not. You guys are gonna have to put up with me forever."


	6. Making Plans

_Finally. _Elaine was so happy to get home. Now she just had to sleep, go to the gallery, pick the kids up from school, and then she would be able to call Gwen.

Afternoon/early evening came at last. At the first possible moment, Elaine picked up the phone and prayed that Gwen would answer. "Hello?" Elaine squealed, "Hi, It's Elaine!" Gwen shared Elaine's enthusiasm as she too squealed. They talked for a while, catching up on things that were left out of letters, and of course set a time for the trip: in two weeks. The minute she hung up the phone, Elaine went to tell Jason, and especially Jennifer the news. Jennifer was nearly in tears she was so happy and was already looking for her suitcase. Jason on the other hand didn't seem too thrilled. "What's the matter?" Elaine questioned. "Do I have to go?" Jason asked, really hoping the answer would be no. Elaine sat down next to him on his bed. "How come you don't want to go? Don't you want to see the friends you made there?" Shrugging, he admitted. "I haven't talked to any of them. Anyways, I like it here. If I go I'll be so bored. You and Gwen will always be talking and Jennifer and Soleil will be doing stupid girl stuff." Jennifer started to react to Jason's comment, but Elaine stopped her before anything was said and let Jason go on. "I wouldn't be doing anything. Can't I stay with dad?" He had a good point. It **would** be really boring for him. "I'll call him tomorrow."

"I'm sorry Elaine, I can't take him."

"Oh come on, Vince. It's only for a long weekend. He really rather stay with you than go on this trip. Can't you do me this one little favor? Can't you do it for your **son**?" she argued, but he persisted. "Please, don't get on me about this. I have plans to go away that weekend as well. Now I have to go, I'll see you when I picked the kids up for dinner next week." With annoyance, she hung up. Now to prepare for a struggle with Jason about him having to go on the trip. What other choice did she have? There was no way he was going to stay home all by himself; she didn't even like leaving him while she went to the grocery store.

"I'm sorry Jason, I asked your father and he won't be able to watch you. Maybe you can ask some of your friends if you could stay with them. If not you'll just have to come to Chicago with us. I know you don't want too, but hey it could be fun."

"How about I stay with Alex?" he suggested. There was a thought; he'd watched Jason before, but that was years ago. She contemplated a bit, _I'm sure he'd be more than happy to watch him, but I don't know… It'd feel a bit odd asking him. Perhaps I'm just being silly though. I shouldn't feel any different than the first time I asked him. Actually, I should feel less odd—he's pretty much a part of the family now. _"I'll think about it." she finally answered. "But don't get your hopes up too, too high, okay?"

"Why not? I'm sure he'll say yes. Don't you remember when he watched me when I was little? And now you're dating, he's got to say yes."

"I know that he'll agree to watching you, I just have to think about whether or not I'm going to ask him." she admitted.

"Aw, why not? You asked him before. Why not now?" He whined and to which Elaine responded. "Because it was different then. Your great, great, aunt was sick and I had to go stay with her until she got better. This isn't a life or death situation. Plus, had it not been for your Spelling Bee you would have come with me."

"Mommy, it **is** a life or death situation—if I go to Chicago I'll die of boredom!" Jason, over-dramatically, exclaimed. As hard as she tried not to, Elaine couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, alright, you win. I'll ask him tonight when I go over for dinner."

Keeping her promise, Elaine asked Alex. It wasn't easy though. It was a complete mystery to her as to why she felt so bad about it. It was only going to be for a couple days. Besides, she'd asked for bigger favors in the past and she never thought twice about them. Maybe it was the fact that she'd being going away for a fun weekend without him and dumping one of her children with him—not that he'd be too much trouble. Pushing those thoughts out of her head, she finally asked him about halfway through their meal. "Alex…?"

"Yes darling?" he said in between bites.

"I have a favor to ask of you, and you can say no, but it would mean a whole lot to me and especially Jason if you said yes."

"What is it?" he questioned, already knowing that he'd agree to whatever she needed him to do.

"How would you feel about watching Jason for me while Jennifer and I go to Chicago? I asked Vince if he would but he said he couldn't take him. I hate asking you but Jason is right when he says he'll be bored there. You know, because I'll be busy with Gwen and Jennifer with Soleil." Much to her relief, Alex answered very cheerfully (maybe even with excitement), "Sure, I'd love to take him!" She smiled, "Oh, really?!" she exclaimed, then jumped up and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He laughed, "Of course! You didn't think I'd have a problem with it, did you?" A slightly embarrassed Elaine looked away and blushed, "Well… it **is **a big favor. I mean, I guess you could have used the weekend just to hang with the guys. I know you haven't done so much lately."

"That's okay; we'd probably just end up going to a game anyways. I'm sure Jason wouldn't mind tagging along. It'll be fun. Don't worry about it." he assured.

"You're going to spoil him aren't you?" she asked with a grin. Alex quickly answered, "You bet."


	7. Back To Chicago

Two very long weeks finally passed. They were especially long for Jennifer, who had been constantly packing and unpacking in anticipation. It took everything she had not to call Soleil; she knew that her coming to visit was a surprise. First thing in the morning they were set to leave, Jennifer flew into Elaine's room and jumped on her bed to wake her up. "Mommy, Mommy, get up! Today's the day! Today's the day!" she chanted. Swiftly sitting up, Elaine wearily snickered, "Okay, okay, settle down." After pausing for a yawn, she continuing, "Now, I know this is probably a dumb question, but are you packed?"

"Of course I am!" Jennifer shouted. "Are you? Did you pack last night?" she then interrogated. Elaine confessed, "No, I didn't yet… let me get ready and get breakfast and then I will. Alex is picking us up at noon." Jennifer began to panic, "We're going to run out of time! I'll get breakfast, Mommy. I'll make Jason help me. Jada (her and Jason's babysitter) taught us how to make pancakes. I think I remember how. Can I, please?" Elaine hesitated a bit at the thought of the kids cooking without her right there, but she figured that they were old enough. "Okay… but **only** if your brother helps you. And let me know before you turn the stove on. And remember not to touch the pan. Oh, and keep the handle on the inside. And don't put the heat on too high." Now **she** was panicking. Jennifer interrupted her mother's nervous babbling, "Mommy, don't worry. I'm ten years old. I can handle it." After reassuring Elaine with a hug, Jennifer climbed down off the bed. As Jennifer was leaving, Elaine thought aloud, "You're right, I guess I can't always see how fast you're growing up." Jennifer just turned before rolling her eyes and left the room. There was far too much to be done to stop and think about 'how fast she was growing up'. So, while Jennifer (and Jason, against his will) prepared breakfast, Elaine got herself ready and packed. "Breakfast is ready!" Jennifer called. Elaine was so proud that they made it without any help; even though the pancakes were just a tiny bit undercooked… but it wasn't too noticeable. After they ate, Elaine went to do the dishes, but Jennifer stopped her. "No Mommy, me and Jason got them. You need to pack." At hearing his name, Jason responded, "You and Jason don't 'got them'. I need to pack too." Jennifer gasped. "Why didn't you tell me!?" She rushed over to him and pushed him towards their room. "Go, go, go!" Jason rolled his eyes. At least he didn't have to do the dishes. Jennifer ran back over to her mother, "Okay, now you go finish packing as well." Unable to help herself, Elaine laughed, "Jennifer, sweetie, calm down. There's plenty of time to get everything done. It's barely even nine thirty. Our plane doesn't leave until one twenty five."

"Why couldn't we have gotten an earlier flight? We won't get there until dinner time. I want to spend as much time with Soleil as possible." she sighed as she sat down on the couch. Following, Elaine and sat down beside her. "I know you do. But this was the earliest fight today. And I also let you miss school so we could take this flight instead of the five am tomorrow. So you're getting more time this way. We'll be there this evening, all of tomorrow, and most of Sunday."

"Why don't we leave Monday? That way we get all of Sunday too. I don't mind missing school!" Jennifer suggested hopefully, even though she well knew that the answer would be no. "Nice try." Elaine chuckled as she stood up. "You go make sure you have everything, I'll clean up."

Promptly at noon, Alex arrived to take them to the airport. Jennifer had been watching the door for fifteen minutes beforehand, so when Alex knocked she immediately let him in. "Finally, you're here!" she shouted as she jumped into his arms. Picking her up, Alex asked. "Am I late?" Elaine came out of her room saying, "No, she's just been counting the seconds for the past week or so." After giving him a quick 'hello' kiss she finished, "And she's been counting the milliseconds since she woke up." Simply laughing, he set Jennifer down. After helping them carry their luggage to the car, they were off to the airport. Alex and Jason waited with Elaine and Jennifer until they were to board the plane. To keep them busy while they waited, Elaine gave the kids money buy something from the little store. Meanwhile, this gave her and Alex a chance to talk. "I'm going to miss you." he guiltily admitted. Agreeing, she placed her hand on his knee and said, "I'm going to miss you too… but hey, I'll be back Sunday night. Though, I think we've gotten accustomed to seeing each other every day... What do you think? Can we survive a couple of days without each other?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure…" he started theatrically. "That's a whole forty eight hours—and then some. However will I sleep at night knowing that you're eight hundred miles away?" he leaned back in his seat and held his hand to his forehead being playfully dramatic, "**What ever shall I do**?" Jason and Jennifer had overheard Alex's little act and started laughing along with Elaine, and then Alex joined in as well. When the laughs subsided, Alex stated sincerely, "But really now, I **will** miss you, but I'll be happy knowing that you girls are having a good time. Besides, the time will fly. Jason and I have lots of fun things planned, don't we Jason?" he smiled and to which Jason nodded in reply.

Time came to board the plane. Jennifer and Elaine hugged and kissed Alex and Jason goodbye and then they were on their way. When they got off in Chicago, they were greeted by a very happy Gwen and Soleil. When Soleil saw Jennifer she screamed and ran to hug her. "I didn't know that we came here to see you!" she squealed. Gwen caught up with Soleil and greeted Elaine with a big hug. "I missed you so much!" she nearly cried. Elaine said the same as she hugged her back.

Gwen treated them to dinner at one of the new restaurants around, only to find out that the food was horrible. "I can't believe how much people raved about this place at the gallery." Gwen complained, "I think I'm eating rubber." Elaine agreed as she tried to choke down what was in her mouth. "Well... you know how a lot of those rich art people are. They'll eat and love anything fashionable-no matter how revolting it is."

Picking her meat up with her fork, Jennifer questioned, "Mommy, is this supposed to be chicken?" As Elaine inspected the meat, or whatever that was on her daughter's fork, Soleil took a bite of her food and ended up having to spit it out. After a big fuss (which ended up becoming a big scene), they managed to leave the restaurant only having to pay for their drinks. Gwen apologized about dinner. "How about we just get a pizza and eat it at my place?" she suggested. "Sounds good." The others agreed. They spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and visiting. Gwen let Soleil stay up later seeing as it was a special occasion, but when it did come time for bed, the two girls gave their mothers a hard time (it was expected though). After they finally got the kids to go to sleep, Elaine and Gwen continued catching up. Elaine really had missed Gwen; she owed a lot to her. Without her she never would have been able to get through the transition from New Your City to Chicago, she wouldn't have had someone to talk to as much about all the confusion around Alex's letter and her relationship with Arnie. Sure, she talked to Golda as well, but not nearly as much as she had with Gwen. Naturally, part of her just wanted to leave any memory of her time in Chicago behind and move on with her life, but she couldn't let Gwen go that easily. It was funny; she did a much better job at keeping in touch with Gwen than she had most of her friends back in New York. Yeah, she managed to keep in touch with Simka; but she really had to push herself to do so. Maybe it was because she had such strong relationships with the guys in New York, and leaving them was like leaving family. Also, she hadn't been crazy about the idea of moving in the first place. That was for Arnie. She felt close to Gwen and there was certainly a strong bond, but Chicago wasn't her home. Looking back wasn't so painful. Selfishly, she hoped someday Gwen would move to New York. Okay, it wasn't **too**, too selfish. Gwen had always wanted to be in New York, but she ended up living in Chicago. Unfortunately, she was finding success there. Moving would be less of an option for her as time went on. She would never let Gwen know these thoughts though. It wouldn't be fair. Instead of focusing on the fact Gwen lived in Chicago and herself in New York, making it hard to see her, she preferred to think of it as being the reason why she met Arnie and moved with him. If that hadn't happened she'd never have her as a friend.

"So Elaine…" Gwen started. "I was going to tell you this in my last letter but when I knew that you were planning on coming I wanted to tell you in person."

"What is it?" Elaine asked very curiously.

"One of the people who bought a painting is putting it in their gallery! Now even more people will be able to see my work." she radiated joyfully. Elaine cheered, "Oh Gwen, that is so fantastic! I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks." Gwen smiled. "You know, I've always wanted to be an artist. But of course my parents never approved. They saw it as a hopeless job with no future. Yeah, I could "paint pretty pictures" but they didn't believe that I could make a living off of them. I'm not usually one to say 'I told you so' but I feel so justified. I feel like I'm really going in the right direction."

"I'm so proud of you. You are so talented. One of these days you'll be famous and I'll be able to brag, "Yes, I'm friends with **the** artist Gwen Johnston." They both laughed at Elaine's pretentious voice. "But I am so happy for you. I can't even imagine how good it must feel."

"Do you have any dreams that seem like they slipped away?" Gwen asked, hoping Elaine wouldn't mind this curiosity. Elaine was silent a moment before answering. It was something she hadn't thought about for a while. "Wow, uh, gosh I'm sure there is."

"Like what?" Gwen persisted.

"Well, I always kind of thought I'd own my own gallery one day. But I've been stuck as a receptionist for so long that I've kind of lost hope. I already have to work two jobs to support myself and the kids. I guess maybe it could be a possibility when they're grown. I have made a lot of contacts over the years. And on occasion I've even been invited to parties that my bosses weren't even invited too."

Gwen, who well knew the art world social events, was shocked. "How did you ever manage that?" Elaine shrugged, "Well one was a chance meeting with the host in the elevator after a concert. But I was with my friend Jim—I've told you about him." Gwen knew who Elaine was talking about, and immediately understood the tone of Elaine's voice. Elaine continued. "I thought the night would be a total disaster—especially when the night's entertainment fell through and Jim offered to be the substitute. He started imitating a water fountain. When I told him that by entertainment they meant music, he sat at the piano and started terribly playing _Row, Row, Row Your Boat_. Then out of nowhere he marvelously started playing a beautiful Frederic Chopin piece. I couldn't believe it. Luckily that's what people remembered and because of it I've been invited to a couple other gatherings."

"What I would have done to be a fly on the wall that night." she stated in amazement. "I seriously need to meet these people. They don't sound possible!" Elaine snickered at Gwen's ongoing disbelief about her friends. "Hey, I always told you how wonderful Alex was and you met him. Wasn't I right?"

Gwen poked fun, "Oh please, I met him for ten minutes. For all I know he's a complete jerk." Elaine laughed. "Jerks don't fly eight hundred miles just to make your kids stop screaming."

"Okay, okay, you win." she surrendered. "I'll let you have him, but I still want to meet the slimy dispatcher, the sweet but not all there boxer, the not on this planet reverend, and of course we can't leave out the infamous high-pitched voices of Latka and Simka."

Elaine laughed, "I'm telling you, I'm not making these people up!" Gwen threw her hands up, surrendering once more, though her 'I'm still not buying this' look was still going strong, "Fine, fine, whatever you say. Look, we should get to sleep. I told Golda that we'd meet her at nine for breakfast."

"Alright." Elaine said as she stood up. She was very excited to see Golda. When she first got to Chicago, Golda was the one who gave her a job at the gallery; or as Elaine put it, 'her first sign of hope'. She felt bad for not keeping in touch with her more, but Golda was a pretty secretive person, and rightly so. During Elaine's residence she confided in her about her past as a jewel thief. To this day Elaine still hadn't told a soul—not even Alex. She wasn't one to keep secrets from him, but seeing as Golda had been involved with the Mafia, it was best to remain quiet. So, given her mob history, Golda didn't send letters, and very seldom phoned New York City. It would be good to see her again. Another thing she was excited for was telling her all about her and Alex. Other than Gwen, Golda was the other person she confided in when she was feeling torn about who she should be with. After all of the complaining, venting, and even crying she did while she lived there, she couldn't wait to show her how much happier she was now. In fact, she'd never been so happy in her entire life. Next to the children, Alex was the best thing to ever happen to her; and she never tired of telling their story.


	8. Jason's Worry

_**Back in New York…**_

"Thanks so much for taking me to the game, Alex. It was the best ever!"

"You're welcome," Alex grinned. "I still can't believe you ended up running into one of the players."

"I know!" Jason shouted as he jumped up on the couch. "All of my friends are going to be so jealous. I got his autograph and everything! Mommy should let me stay with you more often." Alex sat on the couch as Jason jumped up and landed on his knees. "I can't wait to tell her when she gets back."

Alex loved seeing Jason this happy spending time with him; though right now his happiness was clearly over meeting a sports star. He was a good kid. He couldn't believe that he had been nervous and uncomfortable watching him several years ago. Sure, he's gotten to know him much better by now. Especially now that he and Elaine were dating, meaning he saw him several times a week—if not every day. It still felt funny looking back though.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow?" Jason asked, pulling Alex out of his thoughts. He answered, "I was thinking we could go to the zoo or something. Anything you have in mind?"

"The zoo sounds good."

Noticing that Jason had grown suddenly quiet, Alex probed, "Is something the matter?" After contemplating whether or not to tell Alex what was bothering him, Jason finally decided, "Oh… it's nothing. I'm just tired." Alex fought the urge to chuckle at the lying skills he'd clearly inherited from his mother. "You sure? I'm here if you need to talk. It's not good to keep something in." After several more seconds of contemplation, Jason began. "It's just that… I don't know how to say it." He breathed and then looked at Alex, "Alex… do you **really **love my mom?" Thrown by the question, Alex reacted, "What? Of course I do."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

"**Really **promise?" Jason continued and to which Alex repeated, "Yes, I **really** love her."

"Okay." He stood up and started walking towards the kitchen to get something to drink. Following, Alex interrogated, "What's this all about, Jason?" Shrugging, Jason answered, "I don't know. It seems like every guy who loves her always leaves. It started with my dad and I hate it. I start liking them and then they leave. After a while I stopped trying to like them because I knew they'd just leave. I let myself like Arnie and even though we moved with him, he's not in our lives anymore. I think I was more okay leaving him because I knew that she wanted to be with you, but I'm just afraid that now you'll leave too. It makes Mommy really sad. I hate seeing her so upset. Sometimes she'd go days without smiling. I don't want that to happen again and neither does Jennifer." Frowing, he turned away to get a glass. Alex's heart fell for Jason; it couldn't have been easy. He knew that Elaine was aware of the strain on the kids—and because of that she'd try putting off the children meeting her boyfriends as long as she could.

How was he supposed to respond? Certainly he had no intentions of leaving Elaine, and though he was pretty confident that she felt the same way, he couldn't make a promise that he couldn't keep. How was he to know what was going to happen down the line? Their relationship was still relatively new. There was still a lot they had yet to go through. Once Jason had his water, Alex led him back to sit down on the couch. "I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that Jason; I know how you feel. It's sort of like when I'd see my father with other women; I didn't know how long they'd be around." The situation he had with his father was **much **different, but he wanted Jason to know where he was coming from. "I want to say that I promise you're mother and I will be together forever, but I can't make a promise that I don't have complete control over. I will say this though: I have no intention of leaving. I love your mother so, so much. If she ever said to me that she wanted me out of her- and you and your sister's lives, I'd fight and fight to change her mind. But I highly doubt that day will come. And even if she and I don't make it as a couple; we'll still, most likely, be friends. We've known each other for a long time. I can't speak for her, but I am pretty confident that she feels the same when I say that we couldn't be without each other in our lives—even if we were just friends." Jason felt a bit better and hugged Alex. "Thanks," he said. Standing up, he finished, "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep. I don't want to be tired for the zoo tomorrow." Before he went into the other room he assured Alex, "By the way, you're my favorite out of all of Mommy's boyfriends." Alex smiled wide at the statement and said quietly to himself, "And she's my favorite."


	9. Those Darn Numbers

The rest of the weekend in both New York and Chicago went wonderfully. Parts of all of them were sad to see it end, but all in all they were also excited to be reunited with one another. It was the first time any of them realized just how much of a family they'd all become. True, Elaine, Jason and Jennifer **were **family, but now they had Alex too.

It was hard saying goodbye to Gwen and Soleil, but they were already starting to plan more weekends. "Next time bring Alex and Jason!" Gwen encouraged as she hugged Elaine. "They'll keep each other entertained while we bore them to tears." she joked. Elaine hadn't mentioned to Gwen that Alex felt funny about coming to Chicago—but now that she'd gone once, maybe he would feel more comfortable about coming as well. Elaine and Gwen practically had to rip Jennifer and Soleil apart. The two did not want to say goodbye. Tearfully though, they finally did. It occurred to Elaine that the girls never got to say goodbye the first time which was probably the explanation behind how much Jennifer missed her and the tears from saying goodbye now. "Aren't you sad to say goodbye to Gwen?" Jennifer asked Elaine as she finally started to calm down while they boarded the plane. "I am," Elaine answered, "but we'll see her again—and hopefully soon." Jennifer then asked another question. "Mommy, is it weird that I'm such good friends with a seven year old?" Elaine was puzzled by Jennifer's sudden concern about her and Soleil's age difference. "Of course not, what gave you these sorts of thoughts?" Jennifer sighed as they got to their seats. "My friends in New York say it's weird. They say that when your ten you should only hangout with people the same age or older. But I like Soleil: she's still fun to play with even though she's younger."

"They're just jealous." Elaine responded sympathetically. Jennifer rolled her eyes. "No they're not. They have brothers and sisters that age. I get annoyed by them too. Soleil is just different." Elaine put her arm around Jennifer. "Did it ever occur to you that you might just have a special connection with Soleil?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she began. "She was your first friend when we moved… remember how happy you were? Especially since you had been bullied and you thought you were all alone. All you wanted to do was go home. But things got better after meeting Soleil. It's okay to have friends who aren't the same age."

"Oh really?" Jennifer argued. "Do **you **have any friends who aren't the same age?" Elaine quickly answered, "Sure I do."

"Who?"

"How about Alex?" Jennifer pulled herself out of Elaine's arm and gave her a very shocked look. "You and Alex are the same age, aren't you?" Elaine smiled and shook her head. "Nope, he's several years older than I am."

"Really?" she continued to question. Elaine couldn't figure out why this was so shocking. "You never noticed that he looks a little bit older?" Jennifer shrugged, "Not really. I thought men just naturally looked older." Elaine could see that. It was just funny hearing it said out loud by her ten year old daughter. Jennifer continued with the subject. "And your friends are okay with it?"

"There comes a point where age isn't such a big deal. Unfortunately for you, you're entering the worst of it." Jennifer crossed her arms, sat back, and groaned. "Oh, goody."

"But you know something?" Elaine began.

"What?"

"All that matters is how **you** feel. If you're fine with Soleil being seven, then it's fine. Your other friends might give you a hard time and might not understand, but all that matters is** you **and what **you **think." Jennifer liked that idea. "Kind of like the "don't give in to peer pressure thing?"

"Exactly like it."

Alex and Jason were just getting to the airport when Elaine and Jennifer's plane landed. Then it took them ten minutes to realize that they were waiting at the wrong gate. "Whose idea was it to make a nine look like a six upside down?" Jason asked as he shoved the paper into Alex's hand, regretting having not given the paper to him beforehand. They saw Elaine and Jennifer waiting as they ran to the correct gate. "There you guys are. You two have some explaining to do!" Elaine pretended to scold as Jason ran up and hugged her. "We were victims of a number." Alex played along. "We throw ourselves at the mercy of the court." he whined, dropping to his knees before her. She and the kids, laughed, and then Elaine said, "Alright, I'll let you off with a warning. But I'm fining you." She kneeled down as well and pulled him into a very passionate kiss. Not something she'd normally do in front of the kids—let alone in a public place like the airport, but she had missed him terribly the past couple of days. Jennifer and Jason found it quite amusing; they included themselves in the game by pulling them apart. Or were they just embarrassed that people were starting to look at them?


	10. Unexpected Company

The next weekend, Alex and Elaine decided to spend some time together at Elaine's. Since the kids were with their father, they had the apartment to themselves (it was the first time in a while). They were cuddled on the couch as they watched a movie; though, Alex hadn't been paying too much attention to the television. It wasn't something he'd normally watch. Looking over at Elaine, he noticed that she didn't seem too interested in the film either. With that, he started running his hand up and down her arm which quickly got her attention. "Hi." she said with a grin. "Hello." he replied. He moved his hand to her cheek while Elaine moved closer to him. Soon enough, they found themselves ignoring the movie and, instead, enthralled in a heated embrace. That went on for a while, but Elaine finally pulled back and shyly said, "Okay, we should really stop." She felt bad for always being the one to stop it. Alex just sighed. She had stated right from the start that she wanted to wait a while before they moved their relationship to the bedroom—that they still had some things to work out and that they needed to make a healthy transition from friends to lovers. Alex agreed… initially. Lately he found himself wondering if they'd ever take that step. Not wanting to pressure or embarrass Elaine, he never said anything; but he couldn't get it off of his mind. Tonight, however, he decided that he needed to start speaking his mind… more or less. "Don't you think that it's a good time? I mean, it's the first time we've been completely alone in a while, the kids are with their father, we missed each other last weekend, and we're snuggled here on the sofa watching a really boring movie." He started kissing her neck slightly, holding her tighter, and running his hand up and down her side in hopes of persuading her to feel the same way. Now Elaine sighed, feeling terrible. A big part of her wanted to say yes months ago, but she was still afraid. Things were going great. Waiting a little longer wouldn't be too much harder, would it? "I'm sorry, Alex…" Alex sat up and sighed once again, "Alright…"

Feeling the need to go on, Elaine said, "Believe me when I say I want too. I **really **want too. But don't you think that it'd be better to wait until we're absolutely, one hundred percent sure that it's the right time?" Alex stayed quiet as he fought the urge to say that he was 'absolutely, one hundred percent sure'.

They had been silent for a while after they'd gone back to watching the movie when they heard a knock on the door. "Who on Earth would that be at this hour?" She wondered aloud as she stood up. Shrugging, Alex hummed, "I don't know." Elaine nearly fainted when she looked through the peep hole. "Oh my gosh… no, no, no, no." she said in a hushed panic, unable to remember how to breathe. Alex stood up in concern. "What's the matter? Who is it?" When she finally managed to breathe, she answered, "Arnie…" Now he was in shock right along with her, he didn't want to believe what he had just heard. "Arnie?" he repeated. "Arnie as in Arnie Ross? Arnie as is Arnie your ex-boyfriend? Arnie as in Arnie the man who made you move to Chicago? Arnie as in Arnie the man you left to be with me?" he said rapidly. "Yes, all of them!" yelled under her breath, continuing to panic. Arnie knocked again. Clinging to his shirt, she freaked, "Alex, Alex, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? What does he want from me?!" Everything caught up to her, causing her to hyperventilate. After telling her to breathe slowly he then said, "You should see what he wants… I'll go wait in the other room." As he started walking away, Elaine pulled him back, "No Alex, please, please. Stay. I don't want to know what he wants. What if he's bitter about everything that happened? What if he tries to hurt me?" Alex reflected on Arnie's looks. _Short, bald…_ "You can take him." he concluded and then ran into the other room. Composing herself, she finally answered the door. "Arnie?"

"Hi Elaine…" he mumbled. Trying to act as natural as possible, Elaine asked. "What brings you to New York? …and to my apartment?" She let him in. "Oh, I don't know. I happened to be in town and decided to look you up… you know, just to say hi… hi." he babbled.

"Hi." she repeated anxiously. "Is that all?"

"Alright, alright! I can't take the interrogation!" he shouted. After being confused for a moment, she suddenly remembered what an anxious little guy Arnie was. "I'll confess: I didn't just happen to be in town… the truth is Elaine, I was fired."

"From your job?"

"No, from a cannon. That's what brought me here. Yes, from my job!" Elaine rolled her eyes, "Go on."

"After you left I was just so… distracted. I let my work slide and justified it by saying that things would be better tomorrow. But they never were. That could only go unnoticed for so long… so I was fired. I tried finding more work but no one wants to hire a miserable, broken man like me. I ran out of money and lost my apartment. Next thing I knew I found myself back in New York. I stopped by the garage tonight hoping you'd be there, but Louie said you were at home. I gave him a buck to tell me your address and now here I am." Feeling like she was going to be sick from the guilt, Elaine empathized. "Arnie, I am so sorry."

Meanwhile, Alex was probably even more curious about Arnie's reasons for showing up than Elaine. He wanted to respect their privacy, but this **was **an old boyfriend she was talking too; and a serious one at that. Carefully, he cracked the door open so he could hear better, and even though it was risky, he peaked to see if they were in view—quickly moving before they saw him.

Arnie went on, "So… you still with Alex?" he asked. Hating to crush him once again, she answered truthfully. "Yes I am." A very defeated Arnie then made his way back to the door, "Well… in that case I won't bother trying to win you back." he turned the knob on the door slowly, and concluded, "It was lovely seeing you again Elaine... and I hope that our time together wasn't entirely bad for you." He opened the door and started to leave, but she stopped him. "Arnie, wait." Shutting the door again, he gave her his attention, "Yeah?"

"I know this hardly makes up for everything I've done to you, but can I buy you lunch tomorrow?"

"Well, I guess lunch would be nice. Say about twelve thirty?" he proposed. Elaine nodded, "Meet you at Mario's?"

"Sounds good." Arnie opened the door again and before leaving he called, "Don't worry Alex, I'm not going to try anything with her." With that, he left a very confused Elaine—until she heard the bedroom door quickly being pushed shut. She simpered, rolled her eyes lightheartedly, and went into the other room. Alex was on the other side of the room, pretending to be busy looking at a book. "Oh hey, is he gone? What did he say?" he asked innocently. She walked over to him and accused, "Was somebody eavesdropping?" she put her hands on her hips, but smiled so he knew that she was only playing. "I'm sorry." he said. She told him not to apologize as she hugged him, holding him tightly. Seeing Arnie again brought up a lot of things that she thought were behind her. Sensing her uneasiness, Alex stayed silent until she spoke again. They stayed in their embrace for quite some time, but Elaine finally pulled away and asked, "So, are you okay with me going to lunch with Arnie? …Because if you have a problem with it I'll cancel right now." He pondered a moment before saying, "No, it's alright. He really does seem down. What's the worst thing that could happen?" He kissed her gently and then said, "I guess I should be getting along."

"Alright." she responded quietly. After walking him to the door, she kissed him once more, "I love you."

"I love you too."


	11. Lunch With Arnie

The next day, Elaine waited anxiously at Mario's for Arnie to arrive. What was she going to say to him? Aside from last night, their last conversation hadn't been so great.

She thought back on the day she left him…

"_Arnie, I am going back to New York!" Arnie and Rick both stopped talking immediately. Arnie's jaw dropped, "You're… what?" __Rick awkwardly look at Elaine and then Arnie and said, "I'll be going now." And then he quickly left the room. __Arnie continued to stare at Elaine in utter shock, "Elaine what does this mean?"_… "_Arnie, I am in love with somebody else." The look in his eyes absolutely broke her heart. "You're in love with someone else?" he repeated. He hoped that this was just a terrible nightmare.__Elaine sadly nodded, "I am." _

"_Who are you in love with?" He asked not really wanting to know the answer but at the same time he just had to know._

"_With Alex." _

"_Alex Reiger?" he said in a more than surprised tone._

"_Yes… Alex Reiger…" she said with much guilt in her voice._

…"…_A few months ago I had found a letter that Alex had written saying that he loved me. He never sent it or even meant too. When I went back to get that bag out of my locker I saw the crumbled up piece of paper on the floor and I went to throw it away when I saw my name. I had begun reading it there and then you came in saying that it was time to go. I had no idea who it was from or what it was about. So I put it in the bag and had forgotten about it until I came across it a couple months later. I read it then and regretted ever picking it up and I especially regretted reading it. All of my old feelings for him came back but I tried so desperately to deny them."_

_Arnie interrupted, "All of your __**old **__feelings?"_

_Elaine nodded, "Yes… …When it came time to board the plane [after I went to New York when Simka had her baby] that's when the kids started clinging on to Alex and refusing to get on the plane without him. Alex offered to come with us on the plane and take the next flight back. …So when __**Gwen **__brought us home he played with Jason and Jennifer until it was their bed time. When I had gone to tell them it was time for bed I saw that Alex was already tucking them in and I just began crying. I don't know if I was just overly touched that he remembered their bed time after all this time or the way he spent time with them or the gesture or if it was just that thing that topped everything off. That's when I went out on to the balcony. After Alex was through tucking the kids in he came to find me and I was still on the balcony. He noticed that I had been crying and said I'd feel better if I talked about it. So I went back into the apartment and got the letter. That's when you came home. I took it as another sign; there had been many and they were mixed. I couldn't sleep and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to tell him. I went out in to the living room and woke him up. I handed him the letter and told him what had happened… … and then I kissed him. It was like my mind turned off because I never would have had I really thought it through. Then Alex stopped us before we did something we would both regret. You came in not to long after that. After I was back in bed I did a lot of thinking… Arnie… you are such a dear and wonderful man. I've always had great times with you and I will cherish those memories forever. But I can't deny my feelings for Alex any longer. I need to go back to New York."_

_Arnie sulked, "Gee Elaine… I… I guess I don't know what to say. I'm sorry that I got so angry."_

_She smiled compassionately and shook her head, "You don't need to be sorry. I'm sorry. It pains me to be doing this to you."_

"_Don't worry about it… I guess I haven't given you any reasons to stay around anyway."_

"_What are you talking about?" she questioned._

"_I haven't been around much lately, I'm not helpful with the kids as I should be, I'm not great looking, and I'm sure a lot of other things." He said with defeat._

…"_I really have enjoyed our time together."_

"_So have I." he said with a sigh. _

…"_Goodbye Arnie."_

"_Goodbye Elaine…"_

"Hey good, you're here!" Arnie chirped, snapping Elaine out of her thoughts. She stood up, unsure of how to greet them. After quite a few awkward looks and movements they quickly hugged. They sat down, ordered their food, and then struggled with conversation. Finally, Elaine thought to ask, "So, are you in New York to stay?" Arnie shrugged, "I guess so." he sighed. "What's left for me in Chicago? …Just a bunch of memories that mean absolutely nothing now. I'll never get a job at a bank again, probably not even as a janitor. The only thing I'm cut out to do now is being a clown at children's birthday parties. Hey, do your kids have any birthdays coming up?"

"Oh Arnie… I'm so sorry. This is entirely my fault."

He shook his head. "Nah, I guess it's not fair of me to dump this all on you. I couldn't have expected you to stay miserable just for my benefit."

"Arnie, I wasn't miserable with you." She corrected. "It wouldn't have been fair of meto lead you on. In fact, it probably went on longer than it should have. I should have told you right away when I found that letter from Alex. I should have told you everything I was feeling… but I was scared. I didn't know if I was feeling the way I was feeling was just because I missed New York and if Alex was an excuse to go home… I didn't know which was more unfair to you. I thought that I was going to get over my feelings for him—the same way I always had; but it was different this time. This time, I knew exactly how he felt and it hadn't been prompted by me in any way whatsoever. I had to come home. I had to be with him. What kind of a life would it have been for you if I'd stayed? My mind would've always been on someone else and I'd miss out all of your wonderful qualities. Plus, I'd be keeping you from someone who would love you just as much as I love Alex, if not more." Not quite sure how to respond, he just sulked, "Thanks."

Somehow, conversation had become easier. Elaine offered to help Arnie look for a job and decided they'd start looking the next day. There had to be something she could do to help his life get on track—she **had** too. No matter what he said, she was the reason it crumbled.

Later at the garage that evening, she told Alex about her lunch with Arnie. "The poor man's life is a wreck and it's all my fault. I told him I'd help him look for a job tomorrow. There has to be something. Some bank is bound to take him; or even if it's not a job in a bank, there needs to be **something**. He thinks the only thing he's cut out to do is 'being a clown at birthday parties'." She found herself interrupted by Alex's snickering. "Alex, come on now, I'm serious." she reprimanded. "I completely broke the man! You think this whole thing is a joke, don't you?" Quickly, Alex got himself to stop his snickering and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, I know this isn't a joke. But come one Elaine, you 'broke' him? If I remember correctly, you were so furious with him because he forgot to show up at the airport after you'd been in New York. And when he **did **remember, he didn't want to leave his friends so he sent someone else to pick you up. You were really hurt by that. I think it hurt you so much that it was what gave you the courage to tell me everything about the letter and how you felt. Not to mention the fact you said that hadn't been the first mishap." True… leaving Arnie wasn't entirely about Alex. He went on, "What did he say when you told him that?" Elaine turned away and started biting her lip tensely. "Elaine… you **did** tell him all of that when you left, didn't you?" he pried.

"Well… I, uh… see…" she stammered. "I didn't **exactly **bring it up…"

"Why not?"

"Because, naturally, he was really upset that I was leaving… I told him everything that was going on with you. I didn't think it would hurt to let him think that it hadn't been anything he'd done. I felt bad enough. Besides, look at how he is now? If I had told them that he was part of the reason for my leaving who knows what might've happened?"

"I guess I can understand that…" he gave in. "I guess helping him find a job tomorrow won't hurt anything." She smiled, "Thanks. And if you're worried that I'm feeling something for him, let me promise you right now that I don't. Anything I feel towards Arnie is merely guilt and an obligation to help him. Also, he respects our relationship and isn't going to try anything with me." Kissing him quickly goodbye, she went to start her shift and called right before she left, "Love you!" Once she was out of sight, Alex sat and thought. _I don't have anything to be worried about, right? Elaine loves me—I __**know**__ she does. No offence to Arnie, but I don't have to be worried about her being drawn to his unbelievable good looks. I can see where she's coming from; I'd feel bad too if I ended a relationship like she did with him. Besides, it's just for tomorrow; maybe a day or two more if they have no luck... I can handle that much. There's absolutely nothing to be worried about._


	12. A Surprise, A Visit, And Beware

Arnie and Elaine spent most of the next day looking for jobs, with no luck. Elaine told Arnie that she'd help him until he was able to find a job. Days went by… Arnie had gotten a few interviews, but none of them ended up going well. To show Elaine how much he appreciated all of her help, Arnie treated her to dinner. She wasn't sure if she should be having dinner with him… it seemed like much more than a friendly lunch, but she ended up accepting anyways—and on the condition that they didn't go anywhere fancy. Arnie just laughed sarcastically, "Darn it, because I have **so much **money burning a hole in my pocket." Now she felt bad, _I need to learn how to keep my mouth shut._

After another day with Arnie, Elaine decided to stop by Alex's apartment for a surprise visit before she went over to Latka and Simka's for their weekly get together. Being so tied up job hunting, she'd begun to really miss him. Normally, she'd let herself in, but she wanted to throw Alex off guard so she knocked. "Who is it?" he called. Deciding against answering, she knocked again to get on his nerves. "I said who is it?" he repeated. She had to cover her mouth to muffle her giggling. Knocking once more, she heard footsteps and then the door opened. "What do you-" he started to huff, but Elaine cut him off with one of her adoring 'hello' kisses. As they pulled apart he asked, "I should have known it was you… What brings you by?" he asked curiously with a smile as he let her in. "I wanted to see you. I can't stay too long though; I'm already late to see Latka and Simka."

"Well I'm glad you came." He gestured for her to sit down as he sat did himself. "I've wanted to ask how Arnie's job hunt has been going." Sighing as she sat down, she answered, "Not so great. He has another interview tomorrow though. Keep your fingers crossed."

"I will." He'd really missed Elaine. Though he wanted to support her helping Arnie—knowing well how bad she felt about the situation—he wanted to tell her how he was feeling. He hadn't realized that this was going to eat up most of her time. However, he decided against telling her. How much longer could it go on anyway?

"So, I have something to ask you…" she began.

"Yeah?"

Elaine continued, "How would you feel about coming to dinner tomorrow…?" By her tone, he knew there was more to her question. "Why are you asking me like that?" he interrogated.

"Like what?"

"Elaine."

Taking a deep breath, she nervously gave in, "Because Arnie may, sort of… you know, be there?"

"You invited him over for dinner?!" he reacted, surprising not only Elaine, but himself. Elaine quickly defended, "Alex, it's not what you think. Otherwise, why would I be asking you to come? Arnie wants to see the kids. I tried telling him that it didn't seem like such a great idea but he kept pushing and pushing. I already talked to the kids about it and they're very excited." Realizing what she had said after seeing Alex slowly blink and look away, she put her hand on his cheek and corrected, "No- Alex I didn't mean… it sounded worse than... don't think for minute that they like Arnie more than you: they love you so much. They're always so excited whenever you're coming over. Know why I'm never the one to answer the door when they're around? …Because they **insist** on being the ones to greet you. Every time I go for the door I end up tripping over them. They talk about you when you're not around, asking me every day after school if you'll be coming over. Please don't think that their wanting to see Arnie makes them love you any less." Taking in what she said, he felt slightly embarrassed that she had noticed his uneasiness. He placed his hand on hers, which was still on his cheek, and thanked her. "So will you come to dinner?" she asked once more.

"I don't know, Elaine… I want to say yes, but I really don't think I can handle it. All that'll happen is awkward conversation. Even if the whole… 'situation' doesn't come up, we all know very well what happened—including the kids. You know… the elephant in the room."

"I know," she started again. "I know that it'll be awkward at first; but I already told Arnie that I was inviting you and he said he's okay with it. He holds nothing against you for what happened. He knows that you hadn't intended on me finding out about your feelings towards me. I promise you it will be okay."

"Elaine…" he was going to continue to argue the matter, but instead he concluded, "Okay… I can't promise anything, but I'll try to be there." She smiled wide as she started to get up, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you." Kissing him before she stood all the way up, she finished, "I need to hurry over to Latka and Simka's. I'll see you at dinner."

Elaine was almost out the door, but Alex still corrected, "Maybe, **Maybe**." Once she was gone, he sighed, not liking where this was going. He remembered what Jason had told him when Elaine and Jennifer were away. _He was upset about Arnie having been cut out of his life. Even though he claims I'm his favorite, he's going to like having Arnie around again…_

Latka, Simka, and Amanda were just finishing dinner when Elaine arrived. She offered to help them clean up, but of course they refused since she hadn't dined with them. Simka did ask her to play with Amanda until they were through though. Elaine had no problem with that; she adored Amanda and vice versa. It made her think about when Jason and Jennifer were little. Yes, she missed those days, but they were growing up to be wonderful people. Often times she still looked at Jason and saw him as a little infant in her arms. She couldn't help but wonder if someday she'd have another child. More specifically, she couldn't help but wonder if she **and Alex** would ever have a child. She loved the thought, but was too ashamed to admit it to Alex. Marriage hadn't ever really come up between them so she couldn't very well bring up the thought about having a child with him. There was no doubt in her mind that Alex would be a great father. Well, he **was **a father, but was only really around for two years of his daughter's life. Though, Alex claimed that he wasn't the one who wanted to leave… entirely anyways. His ex-wife, Phyllis, had cheated on him, divorced him, and remarried a man from South America. She told Alex that if he really cared about his daughter that he'd let this South American man raise her as his daughter and not having anything to do with her. Elaine knew Alex really regretted falling for the set. Over the past several years he'd been trying to stay in contact with his daughter. They still talked on the phone from time to time.

Even just by the way Alex was with Jason and Jennifer she knew that he was meant to be a dad. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if part of the reason he seemed to enjoy time with her kids so much was because he was trying to make up for what happened with his daughter. Whatever his reason was though, Elaine loved it.

Latka and Simka finished with the cleaning. Latka went to get Amanda ready for bed while Simka and Elaine chatted. "So Simka… I've still been helping Arnie look for a job." They had already discussed Arnie's being back in New York and showing up at Elaine's apartment. Simka replied, "You have? Forgive me, Elaine, but isn't that just a little bit risky?"

"What do you mean by risky?" she questioned.

"You and Arnie were once in love. You shouldn't be spending this much time with him if you're broken up; especially when you're with another man—even more especially when that man is Alex."

Elaine brushed her off, "Simka, in America when we break up with someone we still remain friends." Simka smartly replied to this statement by saying, "That explains why everyone's divorced."

A bit hurt by Simka's comment, being divorced herself, she said, "Come on now, that's not really fair is it? There are a whole bunch of reasons for divorce. No, it's not the greatest thing in the world, but sometimes it helps make love and marriage better the second time around."

Again, Simka replied with a smart comment. "Alright then, explain to me Elizabeth Taylor."

"That's Hollywood: an entirely different story." Unable to stop herself from laughing, she gave in. She knew Simka's heart was in the right place. "Okay, okay. I guess I see where you're coming from. But I have no feelings for Arnie. You know probably more than anyone how much I love and adore Alex. How many times have I come over here and just talked about him for hours?"

"I know you love Alex, Elaine." she began as she poured herself more tea. "But men are jealous beings. If you keep spending time with Arnie, Alex is going to be more and more hurt. What does he think about all this anyways?" Elaine shrugged, "He hasn't really said much on the subject. If anything I think he's more worried that the kids will be reminded of how much they loved Arnie when he comes to dinner tomorrow night. I asked him-" she was interrupted by Simka's gasp. "You're having him over to dinner?!" she interrogated in near disgust as she stood up. Elaine set her cup of tea down and stood up as well. "Simka, you don't have to get so upset. He just wants to see the kids—he never got to say goodbye to him you know. Alex knows about this and I invited him. He feels a little awkward about it but he promised me that he'd do his best and try to come."

"Elaine, I beg you. Don't do this. It will only lead to horrible problems between you and Alex. You don't want that to happen."

Elaine was appalled, and then something suddenly occurred to her. "Is this about your 'special gift' to know who someone's 'perfect match' is?" she made quotation marks with her fingers.

"What's with 'this'?" (imitating Elaine's quotation gestures) "Are you saying that you don't believe I have a special gift?" Latka heard Elaine and Simka's bickering and was coming in to the living room. Partly to see what was going on, and partly to tell them to quiet down because it was disrupting Amanda… but he couldn't be heard over the shouting. Elaine protested, "I'm just saying that it's because of your 'gift' that I met Arnie in the first place. You always told me I had to marry him. Then all of a sudden you decided you made a mistake and that I should be with Alex. Now you're telling me that I have to abandon a now-broken Arnie or my relationship with Alex will be doomed. Watch, in a few months you'll decide that I'm meant to be with Louie! I can't live with the guilt I have for leaving Arnie the way I did. I'm going to help him get back on his feet and then the both of us will get on with our own lives. I would really appreciate it if you would stop saying who is the perfect man for me and predicting things that are going to happen. You aren't in control of my life. I'm a big girl: I can make my own decisions." Grabbing her coat, she was out the door in a second, but she still heard Simka retaliate by saying, "Fine then, I won't! I won't even care when you and Alex break up because if you keep seeing Arnie you will!" Elaine had already slammed the door, but Simka reopened it and shouted to her down the hall, still with an angry tone, "And thank you for spending time with Amanda!" No matter how mad Simka might be, she always remained somewhat courteous.


	13. No One To Turn To

Elaine didn't know who to turn to after her fight with Simka. She so desperately wanted to cry on Alex's shoulder while he comforted her like he always would when she was this upset, but she couldn't get herself to go to him. Not that she thought Alex would side with Simka—he thought the idea of her having a 'perfect match' gift was silly right from the start. As far as she knew, he seemed to understand why she had been spending time with Arnie. There was also that fact that since they hadn't seen as much of each other as they usually did, she didn't want **this** to be the time they spent. Despite the not-so-great neighborhood Latka and Simka where resided, she decided to walk home. She needed the air and the oddly enough, time to herself.

She was glad that the kids were spending the night with friends; she hated dumping her problems on them. She never intended too, but they could always sense when something was bothering her and would press her until she told them. Or sometimes she'd just find herself venting and unfortunately, they were the ones around to hear it. She was trying to stop; it really wasn't fair to them. It was the same thing with complaining to them about her love life. She got the idea when she woke Jennifer up one night saying she needed to talk to her and Jennifer's first response was, "Is it men again?"

Elaine got home after a her long, brisk walk from Latka and Simka's, fixed herself a drink, and laid down on the couch. It depressed her to have a fight with Simka, who else could she turn too when she wanted to talk? Of course, she had the guys, but if she wanted to talk about Alex it felt sort of odd. They were his friends. Simka was also a friend of course but she was a woman, she understood all the giggling that inevitably occurred. _I don't know why I should feel so bad about fighting. I didn't do anything wrong. Simka started it. I should have known the second she made that rude comment about divorce that the conversation wasn't headed anywhere good. She just doesn't understand my guilt. It's not like I'm in some fairytale where I abandon my betrothed, or whatever Arnie was, for the prince: guilt free, never having to see him or think about him again, and then we ride off in a horse drawn carriage and live out our happily ever after. _If only life were that simple. When Elaine was a child, she often viewed any love story to be a romantic fairytale—even Romeo and Juliet. But her divorce and the many failed relationships following blew that delusion out the window. Perhaps that was part of the reason she was so careful with Alex; he was the closest thing to her fantasy, 'too good to be true' romance dreams. She didn't want to risk losing that, especially since they still had their years of friendship prior to think about.

Alex fixed a drink himself. Ever since Elaine's visit he hadn't been in the best of moods. He hated the idea of Arnie going over to dinner. He didn't belong there: he belonged back in Chicago where Elaine had rightly left him. No, he shouldn't feel any ill will towards the man. Elaine left Arnie to be with him: Arnie had nothing to do with it. Arnie should be the one bitter at Alex… but he couldn't help it. It felt like Elaine was spending more time with Arnie than with him. It didn't feel right. He kept trying to convince himself that he understood Elaine's sense of duty towards him, but hadn't it been going on for a little too long? Surely there had to be **one **job in the city of New York for Arnie. It wasn't like some small village in the middle of nowhere; it's **New York City**. For Pete's sake, he could be a hot dog vendor. At least it'd be **something **for starters. If he was going to go through the discomfort of seeing Arnie, it wouldn't be for dinner to see the kids; it'd be to get him a job—preferably one that would keep him too busy to see Elaine. The jealousy/possessiveness he was feeling frightened him; he wasn't normally like that, but he did have every right to feel threatened. Again, no, she probably wouldn't be falling for his charmingly handsome good looks. But Elaine was with him for quite some time, and it was the most serious relationship he'd ever seen of her's. He'd seen Elaine with a range of men, but she certainly had a soft spot for men that seemed like they didn't have too great a chance with anyone else. Whatever the reason, Elaine was once in love with Arnie; so much in love that she left everything and everyone in New York behind to be with him. Even though she claimed she didn't have any feelings left towards him, he couldn't help but wonder if she was lying or if she wasn't aware of them yet. Now more than ever he wished he hadn't agreed to that first lunch. _If only I had that moment back…_


	14. Tickling Won't Solve This One

The next day, Elaine prepared for dinner with Arnie. She picked the kids up from their friends' places and told them that dinner with Arnie was official. Both were happy, but Jennifer was ecstatic. They helped get the apartment and dinner ready. Elaine still felt very down about her argument with Simka. And she really hoped that Alex would show up. Just seeing him would make her feel better. Then once Arnie was gone and once the kids were asleep, she could talk to him about what happened. She was at a loss as of what to do. Apologize? She wanted too, but at the same time she didn't really feel like she had anything to apologize for. Okay, she could have been more sensitive about Simka's 'gift'; but Simka could have been more sensitive and understanding about Elaine's situation. Eventually she noticed Jason and Jennifer giving her the 'we know something's up' look, so she had to try and push the argument out of her mind. She mustn't have done a great job hiding it though because Jason ended up asking, "Mommy, are you nervous about Arnie coming over?" Elaine shrugged and answered, "I don't know, I guess I am. I mean, are you two going to be alright? I know that you never did get to say goodbye to Arnie—which is something that I really regret." The two assured her that everything would go wonderfully. Arnie arrived and were very warmly greeted by the kids… they clung to him for dear life. Elaine watched as she saw Arnie fight back tears. How did she not realize how much damage she was creating when she left without proper goodbyes? She wanted to cry herself, but she had done enough of that the night before. After a long hello, they all sat down to dinner. Arnie must have noticed Elaine checking the time and glancing at the door all evening because he asked, "So, is Alex joining us?" Elaine stuttered a bit, "I-I, I'm not sure." She glanced at her watch again and sadly sighed, "I-I suppose he isn't…" She was glad that the kids took on the conversation. She wasn't up for talking and just wanted this dinner to be over.

After they ate, Jennifer convinced Arnie to help her and Jason prepare a puppet show for Elaine while she cleaned up. Jennifer looked really happy… as did Jason, but she couldn't tell if there was something else on his mind. If there was it couldn't have been too serious, he was out there laughing and having fun with the other two. They put on the show for Elaine; Arnie even agreed to be in this one. Elaine enjoyed the show, and even ended up laughing for the first time that day, but it didn't feel the same as when they put on the shows before. Of course it didn't, she wasn't with Arnie anymore. The kids wanted Arnie to tuck them in, but he was picking up that Elaine needed him to leave. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he figured he'd ask her during their next job hunt. Elaine had quite a bit of trouble peeling Jennifer away from Arnie, but after a screaming match she finally surrendered and went into her room. Jason followed, even though he wasn't particularly angry.

While Elaine was busy apologizing to Arnie for Jennifer's behavior, Jason scolded Jennifer. "Why did you have to cause a big scene?" Jennifer said through tears, "Shut up, Jason. I missed Arnie, okay?"

"I missed him too but we don't need to cause any problems."

"What kind of problems?" She asked confusedly as she wiped her eyes while Jason rolled his, "Didn't you see how sad Mommy was that Alex didn't show up?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well we don't need to make her sadder by showing her how much we missed Arnie." he frowned as he climbed into his bed.

"I still don't get it, Jason." Jennifer said with a hint of frustration in her voice. "Forget it," Jason surrendered, "you're just too young to understand."

"I hate it when you do that!" Jennifer snapped. "I am not too young to understand, you're just not explaining it right!" To make sure Jennifer didn't draw their mother's attention, he got out of bed, went over to hers' and shushed her. "Okay, okay…" he started. "But I'm only going to try and explain it to you once so you better pay attention." Jennifer nodded and let Jason explain. "Yeah, it was cool we got to see Arnie again, but we probably never will again." Jennifer started to react but Jason shushed her again and went on. "Don't you see that he's not supposed to be here with us anymore?"

"I thought you hated that he wasn't."

"I hated that it happened again. But Alex is supposed to be the one having dinner with us now: not Arnie. Mommy looked sad all through dinner. We- mostly you… begged to see Arnie. I bet she only invited him for us. So we got to see him one last time and now we need to forget about him."

Jennifer cried out of growing frustration, "You aren't explaining why we need to just forget about him."

"Because Mommy and Alex love each other and we can't mess it up!" he accidentally shouted.

"I know they do! I'm not saying that Mommy should date Arnie again, but can't we still see him sometimes? I mean, Mommy sees him, why can't we? What's the big deal anyway?"

Jason gave up. **He** wasn't even quite sure what he was saying anymore. He just had a bad feeling about Arnie being around. As he walked back to his bed, Elaine came in. "What's going on in here?"

Jason and Jennifer glanced at each other before simultaneously saying, "Nothing."

"It's never 'nothing'." Elaine said as she sat down next to Jennifer. "But before we get into that I'd like to know what got into you young lady. What was with that awful tantrum out there?" Jennifer frowned and climbed onto Elaine's lap and slightly cried, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I won't ask to see Arnie again if it means you won't be with Alex."

"Jennifer, what on Earth are you talking about?" Elaine interrogated with shock in her voice. Jennifer answered, "Jason said that you only saw Arnie to make us happy and how sad you were that Alex wasn't here. I don't love Arnie more than Alex so you don't have to see Arnie again." Elaine tried to comfort Jennifer as she asked, "Where is all this coming from, Jason?" Before looking away, Jason shot his sister a dirty look. Elaine motioned for Jason as she said, "Come here." Jason obeyed at sat next to her as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Now, would you mind telling me where you got this idea?" After being silent for several seconds, Jason finally answered, "I just don't want you and Alex to break up."

"What made you think that we were?"

"Because, you always break up with guys whenever I really start liking them..."

Elaine's heart sank. Had Jason felt this way all along? Had **both** of them felt this way? "Jason, why didn't you tell me how you felt sooner?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I didn't want to get in the way."

"You aren't getting in the way, you two are my first priority; you know that. I know it hasn't been easy on you guys—and I should have been more careful when it came to you meeting the men I was dating. I should have waited until I knew absolutely for sure I saw a future with them. I'm so sorry; to the both of you." She hugged them as tightly as she could. "I can't promise that you'll ever see Arnie again, because I'm just helping him get back on his feet; but with Alex, I'm pretty sure he's here to stay."

Jennifer chimed in, "But aren't you mad at him for not showing up tonight?"

"I'm not really mad; disappointed is a more fitting word. And even if I were mad, it doesn't mean I'd stop loving him. You guys don't stop loving me when you get mad, do you?" They shook their heads. Hugging them once more she helped them to bed. As she kissed Jason goodnight he asked, "Are you and Alex going to get married?" Taken aback by the question, Elaine stuttered her answer. "W-Well I-I certainly hope so… but w-we've never talked about it."

"Well he told me that he wanted you to be together forever."

"He did? When?" she asked, a bit confused. He nervously answered, "Well, I kind of, sort of talked to him when you were in Chicago. I told him that I was afraid he was going to leave too so I made him promise that he wouldn't. He said he didn't plan on leaving and that if you tried to leave him he wouldn't let you without fighting. Something like that anyways." Elaine smiled at the thought. Standing up she kissed he son's forehead once more and quietly concluded their conversation by saying, "I wouldn't let him go without a fight either."

There was so much on her mind: her fight with Simka, her situation with Arnie, how the kids are being and have been affected by everything, and she was still feeling hurt that Alex didn't show. _I shouldn't have expected or even asked him to come. I shouldn't have even told him about it, I shouldn't have told Simka. I'm really starting to wish I'd never met Arnie. _She was determined to hold back her tears; nothing would be solved by crying. She just wished that she could talk to someone about everything. Unfortunately, the two people she always went too weren't an option—especially Simka. She couldn't wait until she and Alex spent some time together; then she could talk to him about everything. Unexpectedly, she then heard a knock at the door, causing her to jump. She looked through the peephole to see Alex standing in the hall. _Oh no, why is he showing up now? _It wasn't going to take him long to pick up on her mood, but she decided to let him in anyway. "Hi Alex." she softly greeted and walked away before he could notice her sorrowful expression. "Hey, no one's around. Where's that hello kiss I always love?" he knew that she was probably annoyed that he hadn't shown up for dinner, so he was trying to lighten the mood—but clearly he was failing miserably. Elaine didn't answer; she just sat back down on the couch. Alex slowly walked towards her as he apologized, "Look, I know you're mad at me for not coming to dinner. I'm sorry. I tried, I really did. I just couldn't do it. The last time I saw Arnie it was in the middle of the night after you and I had—unintentionally—made out on the couch. Well it was technically on the bed that pulled out from the couch so that makes things even worse. I'm sure he didn't think much of it then but now that he knows that you and I are together it just feels so awkward. I know I've probably been in more awkward situations… But also what about the kids? They wanted to see Arnie. If I had come they would have sensed how awkward it all was and they wouldn't have had a good time. So please, please forgive me Elaine." Hopefully, he waited for Elaine to respond. When she failed to speak, he sat down next to her. "Please, say something. **Anything**. Go ahead and yell at me if you have too." Elaine stood up and started walking over to the window, "I'm not going to yell at you. I forgive you for not showing up, okay? Now if you don't mind, I'm really not in the mood to talk." She looked out the window, hoping Alex wouldn't make her tell him what was wrong. Following her to the window he, of course, asked, "Elaine, are you alright? I haven't seen you this down in a long time."

"Did I not just say I wasn't in the mood to talk?" she whined.

"Yes you did but I rather force you to talk than to see you so upset."

"Well you can't force me and I won't say another word." she insisted stubbornly.

"Okay then," Alex grinned, "you've left me no choice." He started tickling her and had no intentions of stopping until she surrendered. She tried her hardest not to laugh but she couldn't help the fact that she was ticklish. After a struggle, she broke free. Alex sighed, "Even tickling won't make you speak?" Elaine shook her head as she crossed her arms and let a frown return to her lips. Alex finally asked, "This wouldn't have anything to do with your little argument with Simka, would it?"

Elaine's eyes grew wide, "How did you know about that?"

"Latka called me earlier and told me what happened."

Elaine sat back down as she timidly said, "I don't know what happened. One minute I was playing with Amanda, the next minute Simka and I were happily chatting, and then all of a sudden I was storming out." Alex sat down next to her and placed his hand on her knee, "You'll feel better if you talk about it."

"No I won't, I'll feel guilty. I know I've been so busy lately and we haven't had much time together. I don't want our time to be me dumping everything on you. Besides, there's more than just my fight with Simka." She took a deep breath; she knew she absolutely couldn't cry because the kids would surely hear her. That was the last thing they needed to hear after what they'd just discussed.

Alex assured, "It's really alright, Elaine. I rather you talk to me than keep it to yourself. I won't enjoy spending time with you if I know you're upset." Giving up, she began, "Okay Alex, but remember you asked for it… I told Simka about Arnie coming over for dinner and she was going on about how I shouldn't have anything to do with him because it'll only bring doom to our relationship. I tried explaining to her that I wasn't seeing him to be **seeing** him but rather to help him. Then it just got worse from there. I retaliated by saying it was all her fault that I'm in this mess because she set me up with him in the first place. I kept saying how her 'gift' didn't exist and that's when I stormed out. Now the kids feel like by expressing their wish to see Arnie it's going to break us up because they saw how sad I was that you weren't here. I know it was going to be awkward for you and I know I shouldn't have asked, but it wasn't a picnic for me either. I couldn't wait for it to be over. The only thing that got me through was the hope that you'd show up. I know I shouldn't have felt so crushed when you didn't show, but I couldn't help it. And now I know the kids have been going through a really hard time with all of my failed relationships. I feel like a horrible mother. I didn't mean to put them through this, Alex, I really didn't. Now I just don't know what I'm doing. I can't wait for Arnie to get a stupid job so I can be free of at least this stress." Burying her face in Alex's shirt she attempted to muffle her crying; holding back tears became impossible. She was quite happy that Alex didn't say more than how sorry he was that she was so upset. After the past couple nights she'd had the last thing she wanted to hear was one of his lectures. All she wanted was for him to comfort her. Letting everything out felt good, and she felt solaced in Alex's arms. Luckily it didn't take long for her to calm down and she was thankful the kids hadn't seemed to notice. She sat up and said as she rubbed her eyes, "You know," she said weakly, "Jason told me that you said to him that you hoped you and I would be 'together forever'." Shyly, he smiled, "He did?" Elaine nodded, "Yeah… gosh Alex, what have I done to those kids? How will they ever trust anyone—especially me? They're always going to think people are going to leave them. They're probably waiting for the day that I leave them. Before she completely started crying again, Alex held her close once again. "Elaine, you're being too hard on yourself. You're doing the best you can. It isn't easy being a single mother and I'm sure Jason and Jennifer know that. If you ask me, you've been a wonderful parent. You're there for them. They are two very sweet, loving, smart, wonderful children; you've obviously done something right. It's impossible to never make a mistake; especially with children. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of the best mothers around. You work two jobs for them, you're constantly looking at how you can be a better mother, you talk to them, you care what they think… the list goes on and on. The bottom line is that you're doing the best you can; that's what matters most."

Elaine couldn't speak; all she could do was hug him tightly. After a while, she finally murmured, "Thank you."

Once again, Alex wanted to tell Elaine that he was starting to get tired of her spending so much time with Arnie, but he just couldn't. Look at how upset she already was… Did he really need to make it worse? Anyways, she seemed to be aware of the fact that she was spending a lot of time with Arnie, and she didn't really appear to be happy. If there were anything to be worried about she wouldn't bring him up, right?

Elaine spoke once again, "What am I going to do about Simka? I don't like being mad at her." Alex shrugged, "I'm sure an apology would do the trick."

"But I have nothing to apologize for!" she snapped. "Why does she get to say what I should and shouldn't do? It'd be one thing if she was suggesting, or stating her concern, but she was making it into such a big deal—like I **had** to do as she said or something bad was going to happen for sure. She didn't even try and understand the reason for my actions."

"I know darling… but you have to remember that she can be pretty eccentric. She didn't mean any harm by it. It's her way of trying to help."

Abruptly, Elaine stood up and shouted, "Don't tell me you're siding with her!" Alex stood up as well, "I'm not! I'm just trying to remind you of how she is." She sighed and sat back down, "I know…" Looking up at him she stated, "I hate it when you're right, you know that?" Alex couldn't help but chuckle as he sat back down himself, "I know you do." They were quiet a moment before Alex added, "If it helps, Simka feels really bad about what happened."

"Oh really, then why isn't she here or why hasn't she called?"

"Maybe she's feeling the same way you do; maybe she feels she doesn't have anything to apologize for." Elaine's response surprised not only Alex, but also herself: she just started laughing. "What's so funny?" Alex asked, and Elaine answered, "I guess she and I are both pretty stubborn, huh?"

"Is this a trick question?" he nervously laughed. Continuing to laugh, she hugged Alex. "I'll go over there tomorrow."

"Alright."

"And thank you again for being so understanding about everything, and for listening to me, and for what you said about me being a great mother." She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled.

"Any time…"


	15. Globnik?

Before Elaine headed to the garage, she went over to Latka and Simka's. Still, she didn't really feel like she had anything to apologize for, but she wanted things to be good between them again. Latka answered the door; he was dressed in his overalls, so he must have been on his way to the garage as well. "Hello Elaine." he greeted. "Hi…" Elaine replied meekly. "Is Simka home?"

"Yes, she is. I will go get her." While Latka went to get Simka, Elaine nervously awaited by the door. About a minute had gone by when Latka came back with Simka following behind. The two women froze and looked at each other a moment, then both started to cry and ran to hug each other. "Oh Elaine, I'm so sorry!" Simka whimpered. "I never should have said those things."

"I'm so sorry too, I shouldn't have said what I said either. I've just been on edge lately; I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"I should have known. I should have been more aware. I don't like fighting with you."

"I don't like fighting with you either." Elaine agreed. "I know that having Arnie over was risky, but it really meant a lot to the kids. They needed to see him one last time. Alex understands. I certainly wouldn't intentionally do something to ruin our relationship."

"I know, and I should trust you—I do trust you. I just want you and Alex to be together. You guys look so happy whenever you're with each other and I couldn't live with myself if something happened and I hadn't done anything to help it. I guess I can be kind of pushy…" Simka hated to admit anything like that out loud, but Elaine was very important to her. She'd do anything to keep them from fighting; even if it meant apologizing for something no matter how right she thought (knew) she was. Elaine felt the same way and admitted, "And I guess I can be pretty stubborn. I just hate feeling like I'm wrong. I'm trying to please everyone so they'll be happy but it's making me miserable in the process… oh Simka, can we just forget this whole thing?"

"You mean we should globnik?"

"Excuse me?" Simka explained, "In my country, when two people cannot agree or wish to go on as normal, they globnik which means to forget something that ever happened."

Elaine laughed, "Sure, let's do that." They hugged once more, and then Elaine said, "I've got to get going to work. Call me tomorrow?"

"Yes."


	16. Just What The Doctor Ordered

When Elaine arrived at the garage, she was greeted by a very giddy Alex. "What are you smiling about?" she asked very suspiciously. Still grinning, he brushed off, "Oh nothing." Elaine persisted, "Come on, Alex, what's up? What are you keeping from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Elaine laughed, but she was starting to get frustrated, "Yes you do! Come on, what do I have to do to make you tell me?" Before Alex could answer, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around to see Gwen. Elaine screeched, "Oh my goodness, Gwen!" She continued as she hugged her, "What on Earth are you doing here?!" Gwen laughed, "Hey, not so tight, I can't breathe!" Elaine backed away, "I'm sorry, I'm just so excited that you're here! You're finally in New York! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would have dropped everything, I would have told Jennifer, I would have had things planned, I would have made sure the gallery was spotless-" In hopes of Elaine finally taking a breath, Gwen cut off, "Elaine, Elaine, slow down. I have to tell you what happened." Elaine and Gwen sat down at the table and Gwen began, "So a few days ago a man called me and said that he had seen a few of my pieces and that he wanted a custom one for himself. I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that so he explained that every piece of art in his collection has something in common so that they would all connect. When he sees an artist he likes, he makes a special request. The next thing I knew he was flying me out to New York so I could see his collection and take notes. I was going to tell you but I really wanted it to be a surprise."

"Gwen, I can't tell you how happy I am for you!" Elaine continued to squeal. "So how long are you here for?"

"Well he set me up at a beautiful hotel for two nights. Tomorrow I'll go to see his collection and… I was thinking I could find somewhere else to stay for a few days after that. Now that I'm finally here, it's going to be hard to get rid of me." she winked.

"Forget about staying at another hotel: you'll stay with me. Is Soleil with you?"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to put you out. I know I showed up unexpectedly. You didn't have any time to plan or anything." Gwen said with a hint of guilt in her voice. "And yes, I have Soleil with me. She's around here somewhere, I told her she could explore a bit."

"Here I am!" she shouted as she came out from behind the coffee machine. She ran up to the table and hugged Elaine. Elaine picked her up and set her on her lap as Soleil cheered, "I wanted to surprise you too."

Elaine was almost in tears she was so happy. This was just the kind of thing she needed to lift her spirits. "You certainly did surprise me!" she smiled at Soleil before looking back at Gwen. "And you most certainly wouldn't be putting me out. You let Jennifer and I stay with you: you're staying with us and that's final." They both laughed. Gwen noticed that Alex was just standing back and watching their little reunion. "It's alright, Alex, you can sit with us. We won't bit." she invited. Alex awkwardly laughed as he joined them. He was glad to see Elaine so happy; especially after how upset she'd been the night before. Though, it did cross his mind that now Gwen would be keeping her busy… but somehow that didn't bother him so much.

"So how long do you guys want to stay, a week, a month, a year?" Elaine joked (however she'd be completely fine with them staying a year). Before Gwen answered she then thought to add, "Oh, but I just thought of something… I don't really have an extra bed… Oh well, you can take my room, I'll be perfectly happy on the couch." Gwen argued, "Oh no, there's no way I'm taking your room from you. **I'll** be perfectly happy on the couch."

"What about me?" Soleil added. Elaine answered, "I'm sure Jennifer and Jason would be more than happy to share their room with you. Soleil smiled contently as Gwen and Elaine continued to work things out. "I'd feel horrible knowing that you're on the couch." Elaine sighed.

"But I'd feel horrible if **you **were. You weren't expecting me, I'm sleeping on the couch and that's final."

Elaine sighed, "Fine, fine, you win. I should just be happy that you guys are here." she smiled. I'm just sorry that I have to work tonight. "It's alright," Gwen started at she stood up, "I'm pretty tired anyway. Since I'll be busy tomorrow, how about we catch up the day after?"

"Sounds good." Elaine agreed. Taking Soleil's hand, her and Gwen started walking towards the door. They were almost gone when Elaine stopped them, "Wait, wait! Where's Soleil going to be tomorrow? Is she going with you?"

"I was planning on it, why?"

"How about she spends the day with Jennifer? Well, she'll be at school until three, but she can hang around with me in the morning. I only have to stay at the gallery for about an hour, then she and I can take a little walking tour and then we can get Jennifer and Jason from school."

Soleil excitedly begged, "Oh Mommy, can I please? I don't want to go to your meeting I want to see Jennifer. Please, please, please, **please**?"

"As long as Elaine's fine with it, I don't mind." Gwen looked at Elaine for confirmation, which was given with a nod. "Alright, then, can I drop her off around eight?" she asked.

"Perfect. You know my address right?"

"Yep, I do."

"Alright, good. Oh, and you never answered my question: how long do you two want to stay?"

Gwen thought a moment, "Well, I'd love to take you up on a year but unfortunately I shouldn't stay more than a week. I need to get home and start working on that painting." Elaine nodded and waved as Gwen and Soleil left. Once they were gone she practically skipped back to Alex. "I'm glad you're feeling better." he said as she sat next to him. "Me too." she smiled. "I'm so happy that they're here. I want to spend as much time with them as possible. I'll tell Arnie that I can't go job hunting with them until sometime next week, and I'm going to take time off here, I so wish I could tell Jennifer that she could take a week off school!" A wave of jealousy went through Alex. _So she can tell Arnie that he's going to be on his own for a week just because Gwen is here but she can't take a day off to have lunch with me?_ Realizing where his thoughts were headed, he pushed them out of his mind. _I'm being silly;_ _I'm around all the time. It's Gwen's first time in New York and they don't get to see each other often. _Suddenly, he found himself asking, "Does that mean that our date on Friday night is canceled?" Elaine sensed his disappointment. Moving closer to him, she ran her hand from the back of his head to his neck, "No… I think Gwen will just have to babysit for us that evening." Alex smiled as he started to softly kiss her until—much to their annoyance—Louie interrupted over the loudspeaker, "Reiger, Nardo: how many times do I have to tell you two? No philandering in the garage!"


	17. Plans

Promptly at eight the next morning, Gwen dropped off Soleil. "Oh good, you didn't have any trouble finding the place." Elaine said as she let Gwen and Soleil in. Gwen complimented the apartment and then they chatted for a few minutes but Elaine had to get to the gallery. Before she left, Gwen hugged Soleil and said, "You be on your best behavior, alright? Elaine's doing us a big favor so I don't want you to give her a hard time." Soleil assured her mother that she'd be on her very best behavior.

Elaine and Soleil ended up spending around two hours at the gallery. Soleil didn't mind so much, she'd been to many others before. At least she could look at all of the paintings. Though, as far as she was concerned, none were as pretty as her mother's works. After the gallery, Elaine took Soleil to brunch. Both of them were having a great time. Elaine was happy to have the chance to spend some time with Soleil; she was a great kid. Soleil was fascinated by everything in New York. She saw one of the stands on the sidewalk for caricatures and asked Elaine if she could have one done. Normally, Elaine didn't like spending that kind of money with vendors, but seeing as it was Soleil's first time in New York and that they had some time to kill, she decided to splurge. Soleil loved the outcome. The man drew her with very wild and crazy hair. Her hair **was** pretty wavy, perhaps it was even considered curly, but it was greatly exaggerated in the picture of course. She couldn't wait to show her mother. Finally it came time to pick up Jason and Jennifer from school. Elaine was especially excited because she decided to keep Gwen and Soleil's visiting a secret. Needless to say, Jennifer was extremely pleased with the surprise. Jason was pretty happy too. Not having forgotten their discussion about age differences on the plane, Elaine watched carefully as Jennifer's friends approached them. She could see in Erica's (one of Jennifer's best friends) eyes that she really didn't approve; and she could tell that it was apparent to Jennifer. She wasn't sure if she should say anything because it might have not been so obvious to Soleil… so she decided not to say anything unless something was said first by Erica or any of the other girls. Luckily, nothing was mentioned and Jennifer brushed off their disapproval fairly quickly; she was just so happy to see Soleil. Once they got back to the apartment, Jennifer quickly finished her homework so she could play. Jason even ended up playing with them when he was through with his.

As the kids played, Elaine got a call from Simka. Taking this opportunity, Elaine told her about the visit. "Simka, guess what? My friend Gwen made a surprise visit!" Being very happy and excited for Elaine, Simka exclaimed, "We'll throw her a dinner party!" This didn't surprise Elaine one. Latka and Simka loved any excuse to hold a dinner party. Simka had heard so much about Gwen and wanted to meet her, and Elaine knew that Gwen too wanted to meet everyone. What's a better way to do so? They set the party for Thursday night. "Oh dear, that only gives me two days to plan." Simka started rambling on a list of food she needed to get. She spoke so rapidly that Elaine could barely understand her, but the word 'warthog' caught her attention. Stopping Simka, she interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait, Simka, Simka… I hate to tell you but Gwen's a vegetarian."

"Well that changes everything…" she never understood why anyone would want to be a vegetarian. How could one chose to go without warthog? "I don't know what I should make; I don't know how to prepare meatless foods." Elaine laughed, "Don't worry, I can handle the food."

"Oh no, I couldn't let you do that. There wouldn't be any work left for me. How about you just bring something meatless?" Simka suggested. "Okay, I can do that." Just then there was a knock on the door. "Oh Simka, I've got to go, I think Gwen's here to pick up Soleil. Thanks for hosting the party. We'll see you Thursday!" As she was hanging up she heard Simka say something along the lines of 'sixish'. _Leave it to Simka to have such a strict time set… _she chuckled to herself.

Before they went out to dinner, Gwen filled Elaine in on her meeting. "It went wonderfully! The man has quite a collection." She went on and on. When she mentioned his name Elaine knew instantly who he was. "You're painting for him?!" she asked in astonishment. "That's it, you're famous." Gwen just blushed, fully knowing that this was going to be a definite career boost.

They left for dinner. Elaine was planning on going to a nice restaurant, but Gwen requested Mario's because she'd heard her mention is several times in the past. Elaine agreed, but warned that it wasn't five stars. Gwen didn't mind a bit. "Can't be any worse than that supposed five-star restaurant I took you to." They both laughed—she certainly had a point.

They all had a terrific time at Mario's and even ran into Tony and Alex as they were leaving. Gwen and Elaine offered for them to stay but they were just heading to catch a movie. After they were gone, Gwen said in a hushed tone to Elaine, "You weren't kidding when you said he was cute." Elaine teased, "Aw, has someone developed a crush on Tony?" Gwen laughed, embarrassed, and denied, "No, he's cute but I'd feel odd dating one of your friends; though if I did… it would **force** me to stay here."

"You really like it here don't you?"

"I really do. Hey who knows? Maybe if this job works out I'll **have **to move here."

Elaine liked the thought; "Well I'll be sure to introduce you to some people at the gallery tomorrow." she winked, even though she was quite serious. "That'd be great!" The waiter came and took their order. Their drinks had just arrived as Gwen started, "Hey Elaine… could I ask a little favor?"

"Of course."

"First off, I feel so bad for asking—and I normally don't do this but… do you think that you could watch Soleil on Friday night? I kind of made a date... I know, I should have asked first, but I got so caught up in the moment that I didn't think."

"Oh Gwen, that's so great!" She responded, knowing that Gwen didn't date much: Soleil was her priority, and then her work. "Of course I will, just let me make sure Alex is okay with moving our date to Saturday." Instantly, Elaine wished that she had worded that last part differently. Gwen did just as Elaine expected. "Oh my gosh, you already had something planned. I'm so sorry, never mind. I'll cancel my date. Keep your date with Alex, this would have probably been a onetime thing anyway, you and Alex are much more important." she panicked all in pretty much in one breath. "Gwen, it's alright. Alex and I can go out any time." she smiled. Jason decided to interject, "How about you ask Jada to watch us?"

"Oh yeah! Gee, that hadn't even crossed my mind. Thank you, Jason."

"Who's Jada?" Gwen asked curiously. Jennifer answered, "She's our babysitter." Jason and Jennifer loved whenever Jada watched them. They always had fun with her. She was a musician and would sometimes bring her guitar with her. Elaine liked her too because she wouldn't just watch the kids, she'd do things with them. If she were watching them during a meal time, she wouldn't just make them food: she'd teach them how to make it. "I could see if she's available." Elaine said and then added, "As long as it's alright with Gwen, of course." Gwen trusted Elaine, so she agreed. Elaine didn't waste a minute and used Mario's phone to call Jada. Thankfully, she was available.


	18. The Dinner Party

Thursday at 'sixish' came so that meant it was time for Latka and Simka's party. Jason and Jennifer were glad to be invited as well; they felt grown up going to these parties even though they were usually bored and ended up playing with Amanda for most of the time.

When Elaine, Gwen, and the kids arrived at Latka and Simka's, Elaine took no time in waiting to introduce everyone. "This is Louie DePalma." Gwen shook hands as Louie said, "So **this **is Gwen, huh? I didn't picture you so-" Elaine quickly pushed her away before Louie could finish his sentence. "You know Alex of course, and you've met Tony… this is Jim Ignatowski." Jim stood up and took Gwen's hand, "Nice to m-meet you."

"You too." Gwen smiled.

"It's funny, Elaine writes someone who has the very same name as you all the time. I never knew Gwen was such a popular name." Gwen laughed, unsure of how to respond. To her relief, Elaine spoke for her. "Jim, Jim… this **is **the Gwen I write too. I only know one Gwen."

"Oooooh…" he processed as he sat back down. Elaine was very anxious to introduce Latka and Simka so she could win her and Gwen's long running debate about their voices. "And this is Latka and Simka Gravas."

"How do you do?" Latka said as he shook her hand. "We have heard a lot about you." Simka then butted in and took Gwen's hand, "We have, we have!" she said cheerfully. "I hope you enjoy the party we have arranged for you. It's so wonderful to finally meet you." Gwen smiled, "Likewise, and thank you so much. I feel bad that you went through all of this trouble just for me."

"No trouble at all."

As Elaine and Gwen walked away Gwen muttered, "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you." They both managed to contain their laughter—just barley Elaine felt a tug on her dress, "Elaine, aren't you going to introduce me?" Soleil asked eagerly. Elaine took her hand as she said, "Oh yes, of course." She announced to everyone, "And this is Gwen's beautiful daughter Soleil." Soleil went around the room, shaking everyone's hand. Soleil was quite social for her age. Maybe it was because she emulated her mother; she always saw Gwen talking to people and mingling at different events. She wanted to be just like her. As Soleil said her hellos, Jennifer asked Simka where Amanda was. Simka crouched down, "I'm sorry sweetie, she's napping right now. I'm sure she'll be awake soon though. While you wait though you can go eat; I made cookies especially for you kids." She pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "Thanks, Simka. You're the best!" Jennifer praised as she ran to the table of food.

The party was a huge success. Gwen instantly fell in love with everyone. Even Louie, though he didn't fail to get a slimy comment in here and there; but Elaine scolded him and that was the end of **that**—for now anyway. Now better than ever, Gwen could see why Elaine had been so homesick in Chicago. These were some of the nicest people she had ever met—they had to be nice if they were willing to miss work just to meet her. She also learned how great of a person Elaine was (though she knew that already) and how loyal she was. How did she ever leave these people when she moved? Sure, she ended up leaving Arnie, but that doesn't mean she wasn't loyal. Plus, she took months try to convince herself otherwise about her feelings for Alex. If she could find the right words, she'd tell Elaine how proud she was for not completely crumbling. A lot of people would have stayed miserable because it would have just been easier, inevitably making the other person miserable. But, in the greater scheme of things she made the right decision… even if it hurt and took some time to get over. She did wish Elaine wasn't being so hard on herself about Arnie, despite what she thinks, it wasn't entirely her doing. Arnie had certainly contributed. Anyways, she'd always wanted to have a very close group of friends, but it was hard when she was so much more focused on other things. She was glad to see Soleil enjoying herself as well. Seeing all of this really made her take a look at her life. _Maybe someday… _she plainly thought.


	19. Time Goes By So Slowly

Both Elaine and Gwen were excited come Friday. Gwen was excited to be going out on a date for the first time in nearly two years, and Elaine was excited to going out on a real date with Alex for the first time since she'd visited Chicago and more importantly, since Arnie showed up. She really did feel bad for not being around much. Tonight would hopefully make up for some lost time. They planned to dine in elegant dinner, then go dancing, and then they'd probably end up going for a walk. Earlier that day, Gwen and Elaine asked Alex if he'd watch Soleil so they'd have a chance to do some shopping. Well, to be technical, they hadn't really **asked** him, they sort of showed up at his door and told him that he had company for the day… but he seemed to be fine with it (shocking Elaine a bit since he didn't usually like to be put on the spot—especially when it meant watching a child he hardly knew). "And if you could please pick Jason and Jennifer up after school that'd be wonderful." Elaine added. "No problem." he approved.

The two of them had fun trying on dresses. Most were ridiculously expensive and way out of their price range, but they tried them on just for fun. They repeated their little 'fashion shows' (as they ended up calling them) at a few other stores. Eventually they got around to trying on clothes that they were actually considering buying. Gwen ended up picking out a navy blue dress that came right about to her knees. She would have preferred to have worn jeans like she normally wore—maybe a skirt—but she really waned tonight to be special. Besides, the man she was going out with seemed pretty classy; she didn't want to scare him off with her usual apparel. Elaine picked out a longer red dress. 'Not too flashy but still stunning' as Gwen put it.

Once they were through shopping, Elaine helped a very anxious Gwen get ready. "Oh my goodness, I'm so nervous, Elaine. Why did I agree to go out? It's been so long, what if I say or do something stupid?" As she continued to curl Gwen's hair, Elaine tried to encourage, "You'll be fine. Just be you're usual charming self and you won't have a single problem."

"Be myself? 'Myself' wouldn't have made the date in the first place."

"Come on, you're on vacation: you're supposed to let loose. I think this will be good for you."

Gwen sighed, "What about Soleil? She isn't used to me going out."

"She'll be fine. She's so distracted with my kids that she'll hardly even notice—especially when Jada's around; she'll keep them entertained without a doubt. Plus, she'll be happy to see you go out and have a good time." Setting down the curling iron, she stepped back as she admired, "You look gorgeous." Gwen turned around and looked in the mirror, barely recognizing herself. "Oh my gosh… is that me?" she said in awe as she pointed to the mirror. "Yes, of course it's you." Elaine answered.

"Maybe I'm too dressed up; this isn't the same girl he asked out. Besides, what if he was just planning to go get burgers or something?" she panicked.

"He is not going to take you to a burger place." Elaine scoffed. "You said yourself that he seemed like a classy guy. And anyways, that dress can be for any occasion." She stood back after fixing a final bit of Gwen's hair and looked her over once more. "Hmm… I still think it's missing something… Wait here, I have a necklace that will go splendidly with that dress." Running into her room, she grabbed her string of pearls. She rejoined Gwen and put the necklace on her. "There we go. You look absolutely perfect." Soon after, Gwen's date came to pick her up. Elaine wished her a wonderful time as did Gwen to Elaine before she went to get ready herself. Unfortunately, she hadn't had much time before Alex arrived with the kids. Letting himself in, he called, "Elaine?"

"Hi! I'm in here." she called back from her bedroom. The kids went about playing as Alex went to see Elaine. He walked in as she was putting on her earrings. With a grin, he greeted, "Wow, you certainly look…" he looked around to make sure the kids weren't in ear shot. Then he walked a bit closer to her and mumbled, "You certainly look very sexy in that dress." Elaine giggled, "Why thank you." she said as she quickly put her hair up. When she was done she walked over and put her arms around Alex's neck, "You look quite 'sexy' yourself this evening." It didn't take long for their series of light kisses to turn in to a single, powerful kiss. At this point Soleil and Jennifer poked their heads into the room. Jennifer giggled while Soleil questioned what they were doing. "You've never seen your mommy kiss anyone before?" Jennifer whispered. Soleil shrugged, "I did more when I was little I guess—when my daddy was around—but never like that." It occurred to Jennifer that perhaps there was a reason… so she started pushing her away. Unfortunately, this got Alex and Elaine's attention. They blushed as Elaine questioned, "Are you two spying on us." she crossed her arms, but a retained a small smile on her face. The girls looked away guiltily, "Sorry…" they said. Shyly, Elaine and Alex shared a glace, and then Elaine said, "Go play, Jada will be here soon." Jennifer and Soleil scurried off. Looking at him she apologized. Alex was fine; they'd been spotted by the kids before. It could have been worse and quite honestly he found it pretty funny—most of the time anyway.

Jada showed up and Jennifer was quick to introduce Soleil. Soleil noticed that she was wearing similar clothes as her mother and instantly liked her. Jason was thrilled because Jada brought her guitar. She had told him that she'd teach him how to play one of these days and he was hopeful that 'one of these days' would be tonight.

At dinner, Elaine went on and on about Gwen's visit. "It's been so great having her here. Jennifer and Jason have been having a great time too. Tomorrow we're going to go to Coney Island. Do you want to come?" she asked hopefully.

"That sounds fun," he said enthusiastically, and then added, "but are you sure I won't get in the way of your visit?"

"Oh come on, you won't get in the way. Besides, I already checked with Gwen and she said the more the merrier."

Alex smiled, "Alright then, I'd love to go."

They finished their meal and then went down the hall to dance. Elaine loved dancing; Alex on the other hand simply didn't mind it. But knowing how much Elaine enjoyed it made it easier to go along with. Anyhow, he wanted everything tonight to be perfect. Maybe tonight would be the night Elaine would finally be ready to make love. He wanted to respect her wishes… but how much time did she need? Six years as friends, one year as an boyfriend and girlfriend… really, what more did she need to be ready? He felt horrible about it, but he was still feeling suspicious about her feelings for Arnie and for himself. As much as he wanted too, he just couldn't fully believe that she had absolutely no feelings left towards him. Yes, he understood her guilt of course, but hasn't she made up for it enough? Getting Arnie back on track could take weeks, months, or even years. He couldn't stand the thought of her continuing to help much longer. The more time she and Arnie spent together, the stronger any feelings would get. That's what happened with her and himself: with all the time they spent together they couldn't help but fall in love. True, they had a close friendship to begin with, but that came with time spent together as well. He only wished he could get himself to express his concerns to her. That would make everything so much easier and better. But seeing as he couldn't bring himself to say anything… he really hoped that tonight she'd prove his suspicions wrong.

It was a nice night, so they walked around, in no rush to get home. It was one of those nights that Elaine wished that they didn't live in the city; she was imagining the sky full of stars—all the stars they were missing. Alex hardly knew the difference. He'd lived in New York City his whole life. The only time he ever saw the stars was during blackouts and when he went away skiing. Someday, she would surprise him and take him somewhere to stargaze; perhaps when she brought him home to meet her family. Alex noticed her grinning, "Penny for your thoughts..." He put his arm around her shoulder as she responded, "I was just thinking about you and me."

"Oh really?" he questioned, "Something good I hope."

She continued to grin while looking up at him, "It always is."

"Well that's good to hear." He kissed her head while she wrapped her arms around his waist. Once again she looked up at him while he looked down at her. They stopped walking and moved to the side. Pulling on his shirt, she leaned against the closest wall and they kissed. After a minute or two Alex pulled away and anxiously suggested, "How about we go back to my place, hmm?" The smile on Elaine's face instantly disappeared as she sighed. Alex well knew the translation. "Oh Elaine… why not?" he whined. "I'm sorry, Alex… I know, I know, I'm once again saying no. Please understand and believe me when I say I want too." Alex backed up; his good mood was completely gone. Quite frankly, he was sick and tired of hearing this speech. "That's what you always say. Call me sensitive or stubborn or what have you, but for some reason it doesn't make me feel any better." Elaine slowly and cautiously followed as she further explained, "Alex, you know that I've had a ton on my mind lately. It's just not the right time. I want everything to be right and it just isn't **right** right now."

"Well when **will **the right time be? It's **never **the right time. It's been over a year. We've known each other for seven total, hell, we **have** even slept together before! You had no problem with it when we weren't dating, why now?"

Now Elaine was offended, "Hey, that was different and you know it."

"Yeah, it was different; you should have had a problem with it then, not now. You aren't making any sense." he started walking. Crossing her arms and following, she continued to argue, "I didn't have a problem with it then because we knew it was just for that one night. We knew that we weren't going to let it ruin our friendship. Now we're in a serious relationship and there's a lot more on the line."

"You know what I really don't get?" he questioned as he stopped walking. "What?" she responded, and Alex went on, "You were never one to be uptight about sex. I've seen you with dozens of men. Take Europe for example: you were with a different man every night and half the time you didn't come back to the hotel until the middle of the night or the next morning. Or about Zifka? He was a monk! You took no time in waiting to sleep with him. Why are you all of a sudden so concerned about waiting now? I completely understood, agreed, and was even relieved at first when you said that you wanted to wait until we transitioned from a friendship to a relationship; but I think it's safe to say we're more than friends now. We've made the transition. Is there something about me that bothers you? I'm really starting to take it personally." Fighting back tears, she angrily replied, "How dare you throw my past relationships and decisions in my face! You've sure got a nerve. You're making me out to be some sort of tramp or something. What I did or didn't do with other men isn't any of your concern or business—the same goes for me with the women you've dated. I don't have any secrets from you, but if you're going to use my past against me…" Too livid to even finish, she stormed off ahead of him. He chased after her, "Elaine, I'm not throwing you're past relationships in your face—and I certainly am not calling you a tramp. I'm just trying to understand." He repeated, "**Is it personal**? Have I done something to completely turn you off?" She hadn't stopped walking until he finished talking. When she did, she answered through her teeth, desperately forcing herself not to let her tears fall (though, she was sure Alex could see them forming in the reflection of the lights), "No, it is not you. It is not anything you have done. It is just not the right time, okay? Now if you'll please excuse me, I would like to be alone." Before he could say anything else she ran off. He didn't bother to chase after her again; he was too hurt to carry the conversation on any further. He just sat down on the edge of the sidewalk and thought. _This isn't good, this isn't good, not one little bit. There's something she isn't telling me. 'No secrets'? I think there's quite a big secret she's keeping from me… and I'm pretty sure I know what it is. She still loves Arnie. What else could it be? I bet she regrets moving back to New York to be with me. She doesn't love me, it was all just homesickness. How did I let myself fall into this? Why did I not see it before? What am I going to do? I still love her. I don't think I'll ever stop at this point. But what am I supposed to do? I can't break up with her, but if I love her I need to let her be happy… and she doesn't seem all too happy with me these days. _He couldn't help but cry himself. This was all too much. He couldn't let his thoughts go unsaid any longer, but he didn't have it in him to do it tonight. He thought back on the day he and Elaine got together:

"_I broke up with Arnie because I'm in love with you."_

_Alex's eyes grew wide, "You're in love with __**me**__?"_

_Elaine smiled, teary eyed, "I am… I think I have been for a while now but never wanted to admit it. I love our friendship as well. If it wasn't for that I never would have grown to love you. I never thought I'd ever be one to say that I've fallen in love with my best friend. You've always been there for me when I needed you. When I met you I was going through a pretty rough time. I was still newly divorced, I was raising two very young children, I was holding down two jobs, and I thought love would never come my way again. It turned out that I am more in love with you than I have even been with anyone- including my ex-husband. I love you because you are so caring and loving, like I mentioned before, I love how you're always there for me. You always know exactly what to say or do. I love the fact that you love my children, and they love you too. When I told them that we were moving back to New York because I'm in love with you they seemed genuinely happy."_

_Alex, who had been smiling this whole time, questioned, "Wait, did you say that you're moving back to New York?"_

_Elaine happily nodded, "Yep. I have a moving truck with me and the kids' things that should be here sometime within the next couple of days. Tomorrow I'm going to look for an apartment. I don't want you to think that I came here expecting you to feel the same way I do. I just can't be with Arnie if I feel this way about you. Besides, everything I love most is in New York."_

_Alex smiled and looked into Elaine's eyes while he stroked her cheek, "Elaine… you read the letter didn't you? I love you too. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else also. I think I explained it all in the letter but I can repeat it until the day I die. I love the way you laugh, the way you smile. I love how you're always so upbeat. I love you because you're also always there for me too. Some of the greatest moments in my life I shared with you. I love you, Elaine. I just can't say it enough."_

"_Oh Alex…" she breathed. "Do you think that it's worth risking our friendship? I mean, when it comes down to it that's been the thing that has been stopping us… hasn't it?"_

"_Yeah… I guess it has." Alex admitted. "But now… I think I'm willing to risk it… how about you?" he asked nervously even though he was pretty sure of what her answer was going to be._

_Elaine smiled and wrapped her arms around Alex, "I'm willing. I can't think of anything right now that would make me so mad at you that would, even if you and I didn't work out, keep us from remaining friends."_

_Alex agreed, "Neither can I." They looked at each other a moment and smiled. Alex slowly leaned in to kiss Elaine and she kissed back, unrestrained. This single moment had been the happiest moment for the both of them in quite some time. _

A wave of fury went through him. _She lied! She couldn't possibly love me more than she ever loved anyone else. She still loves Arnie! _Rashly, he looked around for something to throw, but there was nothing in sight so instead he plainly found himself letting out another sob. He only wished he had Elaine by his side comforting him. Well, he wished that a pre-Arnie Elaine was by his side. Being fully aware that he was never going to stop loving her was adding to the hurt. _I wish she would just love me as much as I love her. _He placed his head in his lap and covered his head with his arms.

"…Alex?"

Alex looked up and saw Elaine standing next to him. He composed himself, not wanting to lead on that he'd be crying, but she already knew. "I thought you wanted to be alone." he said as he cleared his throat. Though it was difficult in her dress, Elaine sat down next to him. "I changed my mind." she said tearfully. She hated seeing Alex cry, especially when she was the reason for it. Anyways, she had had some time to think between running away and then back to Alex. She hated fighting with him, and she wished she could get him to understand her reasons for wanting to wait, but she just couldn't: partly because she wasn't even quite sure herself. The only thing she understood was that there was a lot at stake and that she just wasn't ready. She clung to Alex's arm and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, Alex. It really isn't anything that you've done."

"Then what is it? I think I have a right to know."

"I know you do…" she rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish I could tell you."

"And that's what worries me." His voice broke. Elaine sat back up, brushing away one of his tears as she said through more of her own, "You don't need to worry. I promise that you have done nothing to make me want to wait. In fact, you've done so much right that it makes my need to wait extremely hard. Trust me, okay? You have nothing to be worried about." She breathed, "I just need more time."

_I really want to trust you… _He looked at her, and after a few seconds passed, he took her shoulders and said, "I need you to do something."

"What?" she questioned, unsure of what he was about to ask of her.

"I need you to look me straight in the eye and tell me that you love me—no, tell me how much you love me." She wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she did as she was told. She wiped her eyes and then placed her hand on his cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb. "Alex Reiger… I love you so, so much. I love you more than you could possibly imagine. I love you more than I've loved anyone else and I only love you more and more each day." Alex didn't say anything; he just wrapped his arms around her, holding her close with no plan of letting go anytime soon.


	20. After Midnight

Elaine didn't get home until after midnight. Figuring that Gwen was home and asleep, she was sure to come in quietly. When she was almost to her room, Gwen came out of the kids' room. "Well, you're home awfully late." she whispered. Elaine jumped and covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream. "Oh my goodness, I thought you were asleep." she whispered back. Gwen quietly laughed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Soleil woke up so I was putting her back to bed." They moved away from the doors and put the living room light on. "So… how was your date?" Elaine asked eagerly. "Forget about mine, let's hear about yours." Gwen answered as she sat down on the couch. "Now, I want details." She knew that Elaine had been waiting to do anything with Alex, so given the time, she naturally assumed that tonight had been the night.

"Don't get excited." Elaine corrected. "Nothing happened."

"Then why are you getting back so late?" she questioned.

"We can get to that later, tell me about yours!" she said very insistently.

"It was actually really nice. He took me to a lovely restaurant, then we rode in one of those horse drawn carriages in Central Park, and then we took a cab and he gave me a tour of the city. After, he walked me back here and even kissed me goodnight! He was so sweet and charming and kind…" she giggled.

Elaine laughed, "Aww, look at you, you're blushing!"

Gwen rolled her eyes, "Gosh, I sound like a teenager. I guess I'd just forgotten what it was like to be out with a guy."

"You going to see him again?"

Gwen shook her head, "Nah. I wish… but I'm leaving Monday so I don't need to get attached." Elaine nodded understandingly, and then Gwen said, "Alright, that's it about me. What about you and Alex?" Elaine sighed to which Gwen reacted, "Uh oh, that doesn't sound good… what happened?" she inquired and sympathetically placed her hand on Elaine's knee. Elaine answered, "It wasn't all bad. We had a lovely dinner, and we had a wonderful time dancing… then we went for a walk. It was fine at first. We didn't say much; we were just enjoying each other's company and the nice night. I was daydreaming about someday taking him around where I grew up. He saw me grinning and I said I was just thinking about him and I. That lead to us kissing which, of course, led to him wanting to go to his apartment. I told him that I still didn't feel like it was the right time. That started a big argument. I guess he had a right to be mad, but then he started bringing up a bunch of my old boyfriends and what I did with them and I was pretty offended. More was said before I ended up storming off. I did some thinking and felt bad for some of the things said and how I worded them. I also realized that he really must be feeling like it's his fault and that it's something about him that's keeping me away. So I walked back in the direction I came from, hoping I'd be able to find him. Well I did… I found him sitting on the edge of the sidewalk crying. It completely broke my heart. I didn't realize how much this was hurting him. I sat down next to him and assured him that it was nothing that he'd done and I told him how much I loved him. After that we kind of just wandered around aimlessly. Once we realized the time he walked me home. So I suppose everything's better now. He's going to come with us to Coney Island tomorrow."

"Gee Elaine, I'm sorry."

"Thanks." Elaine smiled.

"C-Can I ask you something, Elaine?" Gwen asked shyly. She answered, "Of course you can."

"Why **have **you waited so long? I know I've only known you since you've been with Arnie and now with Alex, but seeing as you lived with Arnie I naturally assumed that you were okay with the subject. I can't believe I asked this… you don't have to answer. It really isn't any of my business. I kind of lose my common sense after midnight."

Elaine laughed slightly, "It's alright…" She couldn't say. She so badly wanted just get it out, but she really didn't know how to word it. "I wish I could answer you, I really do. But I just don't have any other way to put it other than I just don't feel like it's the right time. Yes, it's silly because I've never been like that before. I don't know… Alex means more to me than any of the others I guess. I suppose I'm being a bit too careful." Gwen nodded as Elaine stood up and said, "Well, I think I'm going to get some sleep; big day tomorrow." She smiled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."


	21. Hope,Forgetfulness,Tardiness,Ridiculous

The rest of Gwen's visit went wonderfully. Monday came and no one wanted to say goodbye. Gwen informed that she'd be back briefly when her painting was completed, so that made things a bit easier.

Now that Gwen was gone, it meant Elaine had to get back to helping Arnie, going back to work at the garage, and back to more hours at the gallery. Unfortunately, Alex knew that this also meant going back to hardly ever seeing her. But since their conversation a couple days ago, he was feeling a bit better about the whole Arnie thing. Maybe Elaine saw now that it was really bothering him (though he still hadn't put it exactly to those words).

Or maybe not…

Three weeks passed and still no job for Arnie. How could there not be one measly job for him? Elaine had been gone now more than ever, so he was very much looking forward to their date tonight. It wasn't going to be much: he was going to make dinner for her and then they'd probably watch a movie on television. Or try anyways; somehow they never watched it all the way through... though, he was going to be careful not to bring up anything physical unless she did first. No way did he want to end up fighting like last time. At this point, he was more concerned on cherishing every minute with her. A few games of cards at work just weren't enough. By now he realized that they'd spent more time together before they were dating. _No_, he wasn't going to think about that tonight. All that mattered was that they'd finally have some time together.

For dinner, he made a vegetable stir-fry, one of Elaine's favorites. The table was set and now he was just waiting for her to show up. It felt like it was getting late… he checked the time. _Eh, only twenty minutes late… probably stuck in traffic. _He didn't look out the window to check; he wanted to keep thinking it was traffic and not something else. Two hours later, he finally stopped trying to convince himself of the delusion: she wasn't going to show up. Angrily, he tossed dinner in the trash and started picking up the phone to call her, but then decided against it. One, because he was too angry and would only end up saying something to create an even bigger problem, and two because he'd be even more mad and hurt when he heard her voice. He'd see her at work tomorrow. _If she even shows up…_

The next day at the garage, Alex was impatiently waiting for Elaine. _I don't know why I'm expecting her to be here, she hasn't proven herself punctual_. In order to keep distracted, he tried playing cards with Tony. When he had to remind Alex yet again that it was his turn, Tony decided to ask, "Hey Alex… something bothering you?"

He looked up from his hand, "What? …oh. Uh, it's nothing." He glanced at the entrance which didn't go unnoticed to Tony. "Are you waiting for Elaine or something? You're constantly looking at the door."

"Yeah… I am." Deciding to tell Tony what was going on, he started, "I just want to talk to her; she never showed up for our date last night. That'd be one thing if she wasn't spending all her spare time with Arnie. I can't take it anymore."

"Wow, really? That doesn't sound like Elaine… well have you talked to her about it?" Sighing, he admitted, "No… I don't want to cause any more trouble." As Tony was about respond, he pointed at Elaine coming through the doorway. Alex turned, and then turned back to Tony, "Can you give us a few minutes?" Tony nodded and quickly left as Elaine started heading over to them. "Hi there." she said chipper as she quickly kissed him. "Hi." He responded in a monotone.

"Sorry I'm late." she sat down where Tony had been sitting. "Arnie and I were at a movie."

"You two went to a movie? What was he applying for a job as an server or ticked salesman or something?" Not even giving it a second thought, Elaine answered, "Nah, we made plans to earlier this week."

"Are you kidding me?" he hit the table, stood up, and walked over to the coffee machine. A very muddled Elaine followed, "What's the matter? We just went platonically; he doesn't have anyone else to do these things with."

"Well maybe it's time he started finding someone."

"Alex, what has gotten into you?" she questioned to which he rapidly responded, "What's gotten into **me**? What's gotten into **you**? You're spending every spare minute with this guy. It's getting ridiculous. No, it's not getting ridiculous; we're way beyond ridiculous now."

With her hands on her hips she rebutted, "What are you getting so sore about? You know that this is only temporary. You know that I'm only doing this until he gets back on his feet. How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

"Elaine, damn it, he should've been back on his feet weeks ago! The man has made absolutely no progress. He's still in the same exact place he was when he showed up that first night." Once again he walked away, Elaine following of course. "I'll have you know that right this very minute he's on his way to a date. Now, I think that's huge progress. Tomorrow he has a second interview and I say the chances of him getting the job are great. So don't stand there and tell me he's made no progress when you know absolutely nothing about it." Wanting the discussion to be over, she walked away, but froze when Alex said (with sarcasm in his voice), "Fine then. How insensitive of me, you know how up to date I am on his situation. You know, since we've been spending **so **much time together and have been talking frequently. Oh that reminds me: thank you for the wonderful time on our date **last night**." Elaine remained frozen a moment before she slowly turned around to face him. Slowly walking back to him, she started, "Oh my gosh… Alex, I am so sorry. I completely forgot. I was out-" she was about to say out with Arnie, but she thought against it, "I was out with Jason and Jennifer and I spent the evening with them…" she hated lying, but it didn't feel like the best time for the truth; no matter how innocent the truth was. She'd just saw a show with Arnie, a harmless little show. "Why didn't you call me?" she questioned. Alex wasn't sure he was buying this 'spending time with the kids' story, but against his better judgment, he decided to believe her. "Because, I was far too angry. If you think I'm raging now, you don't even want to know how mad I was last night."

"There's got to be some way I can make it up to you… I feel terrible about this. How about after work I buy you breakfast? I know it's not much and hardly fixes anything, but we can make up our date. **Something**. Will you please forgive me?"

"Okay."

"'Okay' to breakfast or 'okay' you forgive me?"

Very slightly, Alex chuckled, "Both." He did forgive her, but he knew know that the hurt was going to be here to stay until this business with Arnie was over. If it was ever going to be over that is…


	22. Honesty

"Elaine, I don't like you seeing Arnie." Alex found himself blurting out of nowhere during breakfast at Mario's. With a mouth full of scrambled eggs, she gasped, completely stunned, "What?" Not having prepared himself to say this, he stammered. "Uh, well…" _no, I'm not taking it back. It's out, and I have to stick with it. _Taking a deep breath, he bravely repeated, "I don't like you seeing Arnie."

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden? Look, I know I haven't been around much lately. I'm terribly sorry about that and I've already told you how sorry I am about missing our date last night; but I **did **ask you that very first night if you were okay with it and you said you were."

"Yeah, I was okay with you going to **one **lunch with him: not a million lunches, dinners, movies, and whatever else you've been doing with him. I'm worried, Elaine. I feel like all I'm doing now is waiting for the day you tell me that you're still in love with him." Elaine couldn't believe what she was hearing. How was she supposed to react? Unfortunately, her first reaction was anger. "I can't believe that you don't trust me. You of all people should know me better. I have told you countless times that I have absolutely no feelings towards Arnie other than guilt. You know that I love you. I mean, what do you expect me to do? All of a sudden abandon Arnie and destroy him all over again? I couldn't live with myself if he did something rash." Standing up, she put money on the table, "I thought you understood that, but I guess I was wrong." She began to leave, but Alex stopped her by saying, "Well it's good to know that my feelings and opinions don't mean anything to you and that you're going to do whatever you please." Elaine stormed back, "Are you **trying** to make this bigger than it needs to be? Why can't you trust me? If I thought for a single second that I was feeling something for Arnie I would back off. And if he tried making a move on me I'd be gone. But he hasn't and it's disheartening to hear that you distrust me. You know, I knew something wasn't right. You've been acting so weird lately." Alex angrily stood up, "**I've **been acting weird? I think I've been pretty patient with this whole thing. I haven't said anything until now because I wanted to trust you. I kept telling myself that I was being paranoid. But you're reacting like this isn't making me feel any better. I wish like hell I had never given you my blessing for that first lunch!" He was done; this was why he never wanted to bring up his feelings in the first place. Very much to dismay, as he was leaving the restaurant who should walk in? None other than Arnie—and he knew instantly that something wasn't right, "Did I come at a bad time?" Elaine put her hand on her head as she tried to sound as normal as possible, "Arnie, hi… uh, no. It's fine."

"You sure?" he asked tensely.

Alex wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, but something told him to stay just a bit longer. Though, he wasn't sure where to go. He stood in the door way awkwardly until he heard Elaine say, "I'll be right back, Arnie. Alex and I were just heading over to the garage. We realized that we were in such a rush to get breakfast that we forgot too… uh-" Alex helped out by finishing her sentence, "We forgot to make sure Louie got our receipts from last night and we have to get them before he notices that they were left out."

"Oh! Okay then, I can wait." he sat down at a vacant table and then added, "Good to see you, Alex." Forcing himself to sound cheerful, Alex replied, "You too, Arnie."

Alex and Elaine went outside and walked down the street a bit so they wouldn't be in direct view of the restaurant. "Alex, we need to talk."

"Look Elaine, it was a long night. I regret saying anything to you about you and Arnie… but I meant every word. I'm sorry but I really don't know how much more of this I can take. You're always with him and it really hurt that you forgot about our date last night. I almost feel like you're using him as an excuse to back off from me." Elaine heard him a little more openly this time and felt bad that he was feeling this way, but she still was upset about the fact that he didn't trust her. "Alex… I'm truly sorry if I've been leading you to feel that way. I **promise **you that you really don't have a reason to worry. I don't want this whole thing to interfere with our relationship, but need to help Arnie. I felt awful and selfish for leaving him and by doing this I'm finally getting over the guilt. Now that I think of it, maybe that's why I've wanted to wait on taking our relationship to the next level; because I still have this guilt lingering. I know that it's been really hard on you… but I promise you that once this is all over and taken care of I will make it up to you. And in the meantime I will try to cut back on how much I see him and I will make sure that you and I have our time together because it's really important to me too." Fiddling with the buttons on his shirt, she concluded by begging, "Can you please forgive me?" Alex sighed; knowing that, once again, that he'd always forgive her. He just wished that there wasn't so much he had to forgive her for. But that wasn't very fair he supposed. Maybe what was really bothering him wasn't so much Elaine spending all that time with Arnie (though that was definitely a still part), but perhaps the fact that the 'everything is perfect' phase of their relationship was over: it was time to deal with the problems that went along with a relationship… and this certainly was a problem. Maybe it was time to accept the fact that he wasn't going to get to see her every day—not right now anyway—and when he did they might just spend time together doing something mundane. He'd just need to work on trusting her and on being patient. He didn't want to let this ruin their relationship, so if this meant letting her go off with Arnie in order to alleviate the incredible guilt she was feeling then so be it. Of course he didn't want her to live with the guilt; he just felt that he'd been patient and understanding for so long. Was he such a bad guy for missing her? He had to give her another chance. Now that she knows that it's an issue, things could only get better, right? She was a very caring person; she wouldn't intentionally hurt him, or anyone for that matter. "I forgive you…" he tried to smile, but he was pretty drained.

"So trust me… okay?" She started to kiss him assuringly, but he pulled back, "Elaine… I love you, but I kind of just want to go home and sleep right now. I just have a lot on my mind that I need to sort out. I'll see you later." He kissed her hand, just so she knew everything was (or would be) okay. Understandingly, she let him go.

As he walked home, Alex found himself thinking about when he and Elaine first met:

"_You mustn't be too upset with Louie, miss. He's really a very nice guy- he'd give you the scales off his back." Alex said after hearing Louie give Elaine, who was then a stranger, a hard time. "Well," she replied, "I don't have to worry too much about him. I'm only going to be working here part time."_

"_Oh." _

"_Yeah I have this other job where-" she was interrupted by another "oh" followed by, "Yeah, yeah I know. We're __**all **__part time here. I'm part time; I only work sixty hours a week." _

"_No, really. I really work as a receptionist at an art gallery. I'm not really a taxi driver." _

"_Oh no, I understand;" he said. Then he pointed around to different people in the garage. "You see that guy over there? Now he's an actor. The guy on the phone: he's a prize fighter. This lady over here: she's a beautician. Man behind her: he's a writer. Me: I'm a cab driver. I'm the only cab driver in this place." Elaine was stunned by the attitudes she'd already come across within five minutes of being there. "Why is everyone here just a little angry?" she asked. She didn't get an answer. Alex stood up, "Oh, excuse me miss, you're a very interesting person but I'm not sure you're as interesting as a massage parlor in Bangkok." Still feeling nervous about being there, she joked, "Well don't be too sure 'til you know me better." This got his attention. "Oh?"_

"_No, no, I'm kidding, really. I'm not serious, I'm all talk, really, I'm all talk, really." she corrected in a bit of a panic. Alex shrugged it off and said, "Well then, back to the massage parlor."_

_Elaine focused her attention on the form she needed to fill out, though she did overhear something that she couldn't help but react too. Alex saying about his daughter (whom no one else had known about until now), "I haven't seen her in fifteen years."_

"_**Fifteen years**__?!" she blurted out in utter shock. Being a parent herself she couldn't even imagine going that long without talking to her kids. She had a hard enough time going a weekend without speaking to them. "Yeah, __**fifteen years**__." he repeated mockingly. Still in shock, she reacted, "My ex-husband was right. He's __**not **__the worst there is." _

"_Oh, so you made up your mind about me already, huh?" he said, not bothering to hide his offence, "'I'm a heel, I abandoned my daughter' now you're gonna shun me." _

"_Well, let's put it this way. I'd rather be stranded on a dessert island with him." I turned around and pointed to Louie who quickly replied, "Don't you wish!" Alex couldn't believe this woman. They'd only just met and she was already saying things like this? __**What a nerve**__, he thought. He wasn't sure why he felt the need seeing as this woman was a stranger and didn't seem like anyone he'd end up being friends with, but he defended himself anyway. "Now wait a minute, listen miss-" he stopped realizing he didn't know her name and looked at the paper she was filling out before going on. "Elaine Nardo. You know things aren't always as bad as they seem. Divorced mothers taking care of their children against incredible odds while the men are free to stay out all night, join a gym, and take advantage of girls named Debbie. Now look, my wife for example: she married this gentleman from South America, moved there with the kid and told me that if I really loved my daughter I wouldn't contact her; because it would cause too much confusion. She told me that if I really wanted to be a good father I would allow this gentleman, from South America to adopt her. Show you what a… how smart I was, I bought it." He wasn't sure why after fifteen years he finally decided to pour his heart out to someone he just met, but it was nice to get it out. Elaine felt a little bad, "I'm sorry about what I said before." But not bad enough to keep from saying, "You're not a heel… you're a jerk." Sarcastically, he replied as he stood up, "I accept your apology." She turned in her chair towards the direction he was heading, "A giant jerk. Listen, no matter what you agreed to before it shouldn't stop you from picking up that phone right now and calling your daughter." Maybe she had a point. Maybe they all did. Fifteen years was too long, he had to talk to her and this was the perfect chance. But that didn't stop him from being nervous about it. "Alright, call her. I'll call her tomorrow when the line isn't so long." Everyone immediately broke away from the line and formed into two lines with a pathway to the phone. Elaine stood up and took Alex's arm and led him to the phone as she said, "You are going to feel __**so **__much better, I promise you." Noticing how everyone was standing and how he and Elaine were walking, Alex said, "I feel like we're getting married in Annapolis!"_

Somehow after that they ended up becoming friends, and then… well you know the rest. Alex smiled at the thought. _I guess we've always had silly arguments. Well… I wouldn't exactly call this one silly. I guess she does have a way of being right. She was definitely right about me needing to call Cathy. I suppose she really does need to help Arnie. If the guilt she's feeling is what's been interfering in parts of our relationship then I'll just have to be patient. Once this is over it will be __**over**__. We'll be free to go on with our lives together. _He just couldn't wait for that day to come.


	23. Oh Look Who It Is

Elaine stayed true to her word: for a while. She cut back on time with Arnie and spent it with Alex. Alex was quite relieved and was beginning to regain trust. But slowly, she started lapsing back into spending great amounts of time with Arnie, leaving Alex faced with the nagging 'should I or shouldn't tell her' question once more. Yet again he decided against it. He was lucky that after bringing it up the last time that he and Elaine were still together. Trust really was the big thing here. He was torn because he was beginning not to trust her again, but distrust could completely ruin their relationship. So he went on, going days without seeing her. He was happy when she actually showed up for work. She'd been cutting back on driving so much that he couldn't help but wonder how she was even paying her rent.

Last he had heard, Arnie had found a job. Naturally, Alex assumed that this meant he'd have Elaine back. To his misfortune, he was mistaken. She was gone just as much if not more. He just didn't get it. The only thing keeping him from fully believing that she and Arnie were having an affair was that she didn't seem to be secretive about it. Then again… if you want to hide something do it in plain sight. No, he couldn't think like that. Elaine Nardo was anything but a cheater. Her ex-husband had cheated on her and so she was repulsed by the whole topic. _Why didn't I think of that earlier? _Perhaps he was sensitive because his ex-wife had also cheated on him and it hit close to home.

Anyways, upon remembering Elaine's disgust for cheating, he was able to endure her being with Arnie a bit better… for a little while anyways…

Elaine had missed yet another date with Alex—at least this time she remembered enough to call. Sadly, he getting used to it. In fact, he expected it. It was a genuine surprise when she showed up. When Elaine failed to show, he heated himself up a TV dinner (after a while he saw no point in making a dinner for two when there was a ninety-five percent chance she wasn't going to show) and watched whatever was on television. There was a time in his life when this would be his favorite way to spend an evening, but Elaine changed that. He went through most of his life with no ambition, but Elaine inspired him. Not that he had a list of ambitions now, but she made him want to do more than sit in front of a screen and waiting for time to past. Okay, maybe he was never **that **bad—but not far from it. Now more than ever he wanted to get out and do stuff, especially if she was tagging along. Well, he'd gone decades with no ambition; as long as Elaine's busy with Arnie, he may as well go back into an ambitionless slump.

There was a knock on the door just as he was starting to doze off on the couch. A bit startled, he quickly sat up. Was it Elaine? _Of course it's Elaine, who else would it be? _But, much to his disbelief, when he opened the door he saw his ex-wife, Phyllis, standing before him. "Phyllis? What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since Christmas a couple of years ago."

"I know, and it's been too long, huh?"

A feeling of uneasiness came over Alex. Whenever her saw Phyllis, she always hinted for them to get back together and it took a while for her to hear 'no'. Since he wasn't up for a struggle, he wasted no time in saying, "Look Phyllis, if you're here to try and ultimately get back together I'm stopping you right now. I'm not up for a hassle and I'm already in a relationship."

"Oh relax, Alex." Phyllis said as she pushed past him and walked into the apartment. "I just came here to say hi, and maybe catch up a bit. A lot has happened since we last saw each other. I just thought we could sit and chat, you know? We can still be friends can't we?"

Alex wasn't sure about this… Phyllis was not the kind of person who showed up out of the blue just to chat. She always had some ulterior motive. If she wasn't here to complain about how miserable her life was or to get back together, what was it? Nonetheless, it wouldn't be a good thing for him to spend time with his ex while he was with- _wait a minute… what am I worrying about? Elaine is spending all of her time with her ex; why can't I have a simple conversation with mine? _He was still sure that she wanted something, but frankly, he was bored. Anything was more entertaining than a slow news day on TV. "Alright…" he said as he sat down, gesturing for her to do so as well. "So, how have you been?" he commenced. "I've been really well." she answered. That certainly was news to him. He hadn't seen her actually happy since their divorce. She went on and on about the great new man in her life. "He's extremely wealthy, refined, charming, kind and most of all incredibly handsome." she bragged. _Ah, so that's why she's here… to throw her incredible new boyfriend in my face; and most and importantly to show me how much better he is than I ever was. _She went on for quite a while longer, and then saying, "Oh, I hope you aren't thinking that I **just** came here to brag… I just wanted you to know that I'm not that wretched old bat you last saw. That way when I die, you're last memory of me isn't that pathetic, desperate loser you last knew." Alex laughed slightly at the image, and then Phyllis asked, "So what about you? Tell me about this relationship you mentioned."

"Well…" He wasn't really in the mood to talk about how great Elaine was at the moment. _Why couldn't the question be something like 'Hey Alex, what's your girlfriend's name?' something simple. _After hearing about Phyllis' 'perfect' relationship, and well knowing that she came to brag (despite her saying otherwise), he would have to go back to how he felt about Elaine a few months ago. "Do you remember Elaine?"

"She's the red head, right?" Alex nodded and Phyllis' eyes widened, "How'd you ever manage to get that attractive, young thing? Alex, you dog." she joked. Alex rolled his eyes, "You make it sound like she's a teenager and that I'm an eighty year old man... But I'm not talking about that; do you want to hear this or not?"

"Go on."

"Anyways, I did 'manage' to start dating her. She's absolutely wonderful. We've been going out for over a year now. She's beautiful, funny, smart, hard-working, caring, a wonderful mother, extremely loving, and…" He had to stop. This wasn't making him feel any better; it was making him miss her even more. "And what?" Phyllis questioned, pryingly. "I can't do this." he answered as he rested his head on his hand. "You can't do what?"

"I can't play this 'my partner is better than your partner' or 'my relationship is better than your relationship' game. I'll just make it easier on you and say you win. Had you come a few months earlier then there would've been a good competition."

"Do you really think that the only reason I came over here was to compete with you? I didn't even know that you were seeing someone. I just came here in attempts to maintain a healthy, civilized relationship and see what's been going on in your life and to tell you a bit about mine. Of course I was bragging a bit, but I was expecting you too as well. I know I've been obnoxious in the past, but I'm a changed woman, I've seen a psychiatrist, and Harvey has taught me how to love my life. I also came here to thank you for being there for me all those times before. I know that I had caused quite a few interruptions for you but I really appreciated your help. As I said, I came here to show you that I'm not the same woman you once knew: I wanted you to show you the person I've become." She concluded as she stood up and headed to the door, "I won't bother you anymore."

"Wait Phyllis…" he sluggishly stood up, "I'm sorry… you just caught me at a bad time."

"What's the matter?"

"Just… relationship stuff. It's a long story."

She had already opened the door, but shut it as she queried, "Well do you want to talk about it? I certainly owe you for all the times you've helped me." Alex sat back down. Should he really poor his heart out to Phyllis of all people? He'd barely even mentioned his problems to the guys. However, part of the reasoning behind that decision was that they were friends with Elaine as well, and he didn't want them telling her and making an even bigger mess of things. Of course they wouldn't intentionally say anything to cause trouble, if they said anything they'd just be trying to help. Unfortunately, this just wasn't a situation where they **could** help. They had just as much power over the situation as he did. If he talked and vented to Phyllis, there was no way of Elaine finding out. Though, he was having a hard time getting passed the whole ex-wife factor. There was absolutely no reason for him to feel guilty though. If he was supposed to let Elaine spend day after day with Arnie he could vent to Phyllis: he had to keep reminding himself of that factor. He told Phyllis everything he had been feeling, "I can't stand the thought of losing her. That's why I've been trying to be so patient about this. I did tell her once that I didn't like her spending time with him; but she, again, said that she had absolutely no feelings for him and that she was strictly just trying to get rid of the guilt. She also added that once she did, it would probably be what finally made her decide that we- or she- no, we… she. Let me go back and rephrase that. Getting rid of her guilt would mean she would finally be ready for her and I to… uh… you know, get 'closer'."

"You mean you haven't even slept with her?" Phyllis reacted.

"No…"

"Alex, I don't want to upset you even more, but this sounds serious. A girl like that doesn't wait." Alex rolled his eyes at the comment and defended, "Could you please stop refereeing to her as 'a girl like that'. It really bugs me. She may be putting me through hell right now but I don't believe it's intentional. Yes, it's a bit odd that all of a sudden—with me—she's uptight about sex; but there **is **more at stake. I will agree with and give her that much. I wasn't so concerned about it until Arnie showed up. Thank goodness we waited though… because if we had been sleeping together beforehand then I'd be scared out of my mind. I'd maybe talk to her about it… but now it seems whenever it comes up it starts a horrible fight." Phyllis remarked, "This isn't good, Alex."

"I know it isn't good!" he shouted. Taking a deep breath, he managed to quickly calm down. "Look, I don't know how much more I want to talk about this… thank you for listening though. It actually made me feel a little bit better. I think I'd like to get some sleep." Phyllis took the hint for her to leave.

Before she left, she hugged Alex and then suggested that they have lunch sometime soon—platonically of course. Alex was hesitant, but agreed; he was tired of eating alone. Sure, he'd go out with the guys to Mario's or to games, but it still wasn't the same. Not that he had any feelings for Phyllis; none whatsoever. But why should he suffer from boredom while Elaine's off doing who knows what?


	24. No Way, No How

Lunch with Phyllis went nicely. Again, he thanked her for listening to him the other night. They talked a bit more about it, but eventually started talking about other things. Phyllis really had changed. She was… happy. She was never a chipper person—not that chipper was the fitting word for her now, but she definitely was happy. This Harvey fellow seemed like a great guy.

"Hey Alex, Harvey has a business trip this weekend… if you don't have plans with Elaine, why don't you and I go to a movie or something? No sense in us both being home alone and bored."

"Sound good." Alex agreed. "I do have a date with Elaine, but it will probably be canceled. And I know there's some art event, but I was already expecting her to take Arnie instead of me."

He was right, she invited Arnie. Oh well, he'd have a nice time with Phyllis. They ended doing more things together. Not as frequently as Arnie and Elaine, but enough to fill the void. The neglect from Elaine had been killing him, but spending time with Phyllis really was helping. He didn't feel so bitter towards Elaine. Phyllis knew that when (and if) Elaine was through helping Arnie that they'd cut down on time together, but she was enjoying herself for now. Harvey was good with upper class events and engagements, but you'd never see him step foot in any theater that wasn't Broadway on opening night.

"I really want to thank you, Phyllis."

"You don't have to thank me every time you see me, Alex. You are welcome. I know you've felt down. Consider this my attempt to make up for what happened between us. I can see that you really love her… you get a similar look in your eye when you talk about her that I saw when we were first married. Only now it's a little sadder."

Alex sighed, "Well… I've been trying to focus on her good qualities. She's not such a bad person… just…"

"Oblivious?" she finished for him. "Yeah… I guess that's a fitting word."

At last, a date with Elaine was confirmed: dinner at her apartment with the kids. Alex was thrilled. He went all out, he bought flowers, dressed up a bit (not too much seeing as it was dinner in), and even got a little something for the kids. It was like old times you could say: he knocked on the door so Jennifer and Jason could run to answer, and the minute they went to wash up Elaine greeted him with 'the kiss'. Oh how he had missed nights like these. He was so thankful for Phyllis showing up; he was actually enjoying this time with Elaine instead of thinking about how mad he was at her for the lack of attention she'd given him. "I have to be honest," she began as they snuggled on the couch. "I was kind of worried, and sort of expecting you to be upset with me for how much I've been gone, and for canceling dates, and my not showing up at the garage." Alex shrugged, thinking of the proper way to respond. Finally, he decided on saying, "I'm not going to lie and say it was easy, but I'm really, **really** trying hard to support your need to help Arnie. As I've said, I don't want this ruining our relationship… how's he doing by the way?"

"His job is going really well, he's been on a couple more dates, one seems pretty promising. I'm happy for him. I think I'll finally be able to start backing off. We have some plans for the coming week, but after that I'm not sure. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that the woman he's out with tonight wants to pursue the relationship."

"That's great." he smiled sincerely. Suddenly, he felt very silly for all of the worrying. What if this whole time it had been played up in his head? Maybe what he needed all along was a distraction. The past couple weeks hadn't felt so long and dragged out having spent them with Phyllis. Elaine seemed genuinely relived about Arnie's date tonight and by the light at the end of the tunnel. "So what have you been up too?"

"Went to a couple of games with Tony and Jim, Latka and Simka had me over for dinner, went to a couple of movies… this and that." Instinctively, he left out any mention of Phyllis. Not that Elaine had any right to be mad at him—it was the same (or similar) situation she was in with Arnie. It was no secret though. If she were to ask him right that second if he'd been spending time with Phyllis he wouldn't be ashamed to admit so. "Sounds like fun. I'm glad that you haven't been too lonely without me. I've been feeling bad about that." _Where was this attitude a few weeks ago? No, I'm not thinking like that anymore. _Pushing the thought out of his mind, he said, "Well, it has been a bit lonely…" he said as he leaned in closer. Picking up on his signals, Elaine gladly made it up to him by kissing him long and hard.

"What do you have planned for the week?" Alex asked as he was leaving. Normally he'd ask the question with discourage in his voice, but he was in far too good a mood right now. She answered, "Well on Monday and Tuesday I'm going to be tied up at the gallery most of the day, but I'll be driving at night because if I don't catch up on some bills I'm in trouble. Then on Wednesday I'm having late lunch/early dinner with Arnie, a double at the garage on Thursday, and then on Friday I'm going to Atlantic City with Arnie." Worry instantly returned to Alex, "What? Atlantic City? For the day?" Growing pale, Elaine stuttered, "Um… yeah… I guess I forgot to mention that… Actually, we'll be gone until Sunday."

"Why the hell are you going to Atlantic City with him for the weekend?" he tried keeping in his anger. "Alex, I know it sounds awful, but it's not like it may seem. He's made some friends at work and they've invited him along for the trip. All the other guys either have wives or dates with them except for him. He can't be the only one without so he begged me to go with him and pretend—a tiny bit—that I was with him. We have a room with two beds so there's no need to worry there."

"No Elaine. You are **not** going on that trip!" he shouted.

"Alex…" she said, taken aback by his reaction. "I expected you to be mad but not raging!"

"Oh, excuse me, am I raging?" he shouted even louder and angrier than before. Elaine shushed, "Alex, keep your voice down. You're going to wake up the kids!"

"I don't care! I want a witness to this hell you're putting me through!" Without another word he left. _That woman is just going to keep pushing me and pushing isn't she? She's got to be having an affair with him. You don't just go away to Atlantic City for the weekend with your ex; not without something greater in mind than gambling. _He was so mad that when he pushed the button for the elevator, he knocked the frame , Elaine joined him in the hallway. "Alex, get back inside before someone thinks something's going on."

"Something **is **going on, Elaine. How did you expect me to be okay with this when **we** don't even sleep in the same room together?" Elaine groaned, "Why must you **always **make this about sex? I'm not going to sleep with Arnie, and I'm not even going to explain to you again my feelings towards him."

"I only said that we don't sleep in the same room together!" The elevator door opened, and he went inside and rapidly started pushing the buttons to shut the door. To his annoyance, she flung her arm in between the doors as they were closing. "You are not leaving here until we talk about this."

"There is nothing to talk about. I can't make it any clearer that I don't want you to go. If you really love me you won't go." Catching that his voice was shaking, she stopped. Maybe this really was serious… All of a sudden, she saw how ridiculous the whole idea was. Taking Alex's hand, she gently pulled him out of the elevator. He fought a bit, but ended up giving in. "I'm not going to go." she assured.

"What?"

"I'm not going to go. You're obviously very upset about it and I don't like hurting you. Now that it's out, I guess can see how ridiculous it was of me to think you'd be okay with it. I'd hate it if you went away with someone like that—no matter how innocent—especially if you'd be pretending to be her date during the day time… maybe that isn't so innocent after all. I'm so sorry that I didn't see it sooner. Can you forgive me?"

_There are those words again… _he thought, however, Alex was absolutely relieved. He really thought that this would be the end for them, but her realizing that he couldn't stand to see her go gave him a lot of hope. Clinging on to her, he whispered, "Thank you… yes, I forgive you." A few seconds later they heard the door to Elaine's apartment creek. "Mommy… Alex?" Jason came out, wearily. Both Elaine and Alex looked at Jason, hoping he hadn't heard their argument. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked with her arms still around Alex. Jason **had** heard them fighting, but it looked like they were making up, so he improvised, "Nothing… I just, uh, I had a bad dream." he whined in attempts to make his statement more believable. "I'm sorry," she sympathized. "I'll be back inside in a minute and we can talk about it, alright?" Jason nodded, "Okay, no hurry." No hurry at all, he needed the time to think of a nightmare. After he was back in the apartment, Elaine looked at Alex, "Guess I'd better go talk to him."

"Yeah, sounds like you should."

"So you really forgive me?" she asked, just to make sure. Alex replied, "Of course I do."

"Then how come you still sound down?" she interrogated and Alex responded with a sighed, "Because it was quite a shock to hear. My heart is still racing." Elaine frowned and gazed up at him sorrowfully as she placed her hand on his heart. "I'm so sorry…" With her hand still on his heart, she tenderly kissed his lips. They said goodnight and then Alex left.

Elaine went back inside, joining Jason on the couch. "Sorry about that…" She put her arm around him and then asked, "So what was your dream about?" Jason had tried to think of nightmare, and even came up with a good one; but hearing his mother and Alex fight bothered him more than any nightmare could. "I lied… I didn't have a nightmare. I heard you and Alex yelling and I heard the door so I was just getting nervous."

"Oh Jason, I'm so sorry you had to hear that…"

"What were you fighting about?"

Elaine hated when either of the kids asked this question. Lately, their fights weren't topics she should be discussing with them. Of course those were the only ones they most often overheard. "It's not important now, we worked it out."

"You sound sad though."

Elaine sighed, "I am a little bit, yes, but it's also late and I'm tired. Everything is fine though and you don't have to worry about it."

"But I do worry about it. I don't like you and Alex fighting. You used to fight with Daddy all the time and then you got divorced. I don't want you to stop seeing Alex." he admitted. Elaine was dumbfounded; how did he remember the fighting with Vince from so long ago? He was a very little kid at the time. "You really remember that?" she questioned. Jason shrugged, "I guess so. It isn't something I ever really thought about but hearing you and Alex kind of reminded me. I know what happens from there…" Trying to remain strong, as her heart sank for her son, Elaine tried to explain. "Jason, what your Father and I fought about was very different. The fighting was much worse and far more frequent. Alex and I have a completely different situation."

"He's never around anymore. How is that different?" Now Jason remembered how little his father was around? Elaine wished she could explain in greater detail about what happened with the divorce, but he was still too young to hear it. Okay, so he was no longer the little kid he used to be; but it wasn't fair to Vince **or **Jason to have him know the great details. Struggling for the right words, Elaine continued trying to explain, "It's different because… because I'm the one who's been too busy to see him. You know that I've been trying to help out Arnie. But things seem to be getting better for him and as soon as they do everything will go back to normal. I promise you: Alex and I are nowhere near breaking up."

"You mean he is really okay with you seeing Arnie? Don't you think he'd start feeling a little jealous by now?" he probed. Once again, Elaine was completely dumbfounded. "What on Earth have you been watching or reading that would bring up such questions like these?"

"Nothing, it just seems weird that he'd be okay with this."

"You're growing up too quickly, you know that?" she said with a slight smile and hugged him. "I'll be honest and say that he hasn't been the most thrilled with it, but he really understands my reasons for helping him. And I wouldn't do anything if I thought for a single moment that it would cause a riff between us. I'm not going to go into all the details because you need to go back to sleep, but our argument was about him not liking one of the plans I made with Arnie. At first I felt he was overreacting and I was mad at him demanding that I cancel, but I thought about it and saw how upset he was and how it'd hurt our relationship if I went through with the plans, so I said I'd cancel them—and that's exactly what I'm going to do first thing tomorrow morning." Jason sat up and said, "Okay… goodnight." then standing up, he starting walking back to his room. Before he went in, Elaine said, "I'm sorry that you kids are so effected by this… you shouldn't have to be thinking about these sorts of things until you're in relationships yourself. Like I said, soon enough this will all be over with."

"And you and Alex will be married?"

She was silent a moment before concluding, "Let's save marriage for another day."

She sat on the couch a while, processing everything from that night. This was not what she had expected when she said that she'd help Arnie. It hadn't been complete agony though; they did have some fun times together. Arnie was a fun guy to be around. A lot of times though, she found herself wishing that she'd been doing all of those fun things with Alex. Nothing ended a day better then cuddling with him, or kissing him, or even just talking to him on the phone before she went to sleep. _I hope Arnie will go on the trip without me. I want to spend the weekend with Alex. Vince is already taking the kids so we should do something special. I wish he and I could go away somewhere, but that's a risky territory... he'll want to make love and I'll have to tell him no yet again. _She sighed; she just couldn't think about taking that step until Arnie was gone. Everything seemed so simple before he showed up. They didn't fight so much, he didn't seem to be down as much… though he didn't seem particularly down today… he seemed like his usual self. _Why did he suddenly change his attitude?_ _I guess he really did just need some time to work things out for himself. _She was very thankful to be with someone like Alex. But Jason was right: it was odd that he was okay with it. Alright, so 'okay' might not be the proper word. Anyways, she would be worried herself if he was completely okay with everything. Although, knowing for sure that he trusted her would have made her feel good. But he seemed to trust her more now—that is if what had just happened could be forgotten.


	25. Enough is Enough

Things slowly seemed to be going back to normal... again. Elaine was around more, though she spent a great deal of time driving so she could catch up on her bills. The weekend Elaine was supposed to go to Atlantic City was better spent catching up on all the dates with Alex she had missed. They decided to go around New York as tourists would. Naturally, they thought they'd be annoyed with the crowds as anyone living in New York would, but they weren't as bad as they expected. They went on tours, buses, looked at maps—the whole nine yards. Elaine called their outing 'a vacation at home'. Alex called it, (fully aware of what was going on) 'a clever way to say, 'I want to go on vacation but we're still not going to do anything''; but he kept that thought to himself. He really didn't want to be pushy on the topic… but it **had **been a while. Though, now he didn't see too much need for worry, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel and soon Arnie would be gone forever. He had a new girlfriend, his job was good, and he was making friends. In shorter terms: he didn't need Elaine anymore.

That was until his girlfriend dumped him a couple weeks later.

Alex couldn't believe it. It was like everything started all over again. Once again he hardly saw Elaine, she canceled dates left and right, and he was back to being miserable. Luckily he still had Phyllis to keep him entertained from time to time—even if it was just going out for a cup of coffee. He continued to try and not be bitter about Elaine being away, but it went from hard, to easier, to hard again. Every time things appeared to be getting better they'd go awry once more. One step forward and two steps back.

It was one of those rare nights when Elaine confirmed a date. She had called Alex and said that she'd be over at his place for dinner in an hour. Alex prepared dinner as he waited. Once it was done he checked the clock. There was still roughly fifteen minutes until she arrived. As he set the table there was a knock on the door. _That's funny; she normally lets herself in—especially if I'm expecting her. _Then, he thought back to the time or so she'd surprise him at the door. Then again, that was usually when he wasn't expecting her. No matter, she was here. When he opened the door he didn't see a perky Elaine, but rather a tearful Phyllis. "Phyllis, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm absolutely terrible."

"Come in, come in." he said with concern in his voice. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's Harvey." she cried. "He dumped me! I don't know what went wrong. One minute we were at dinner and the next thing I knew he was asking for the check. I changed myself for him, I did everything for him. How could he do this to me?" she pushed herself to Alex looking for comfort. He hugged her, unsure of what to say. He wanted to make her feel better, but Elaine **was** on her way… "Alex, you have to help me. I don't know what to do."

"I'm so sorry about Harvey… but this isn't really the best time. You see, Elaine will be here any minute and-" Cutting him off as she now pushed herself off of him, she said, "Oh I see how it is: I help you when you're down and you kick me out when my life falls apart." Here was the Phyllis he remembered. But she was right; she had been there quite a bit for him. He couldn't ask her to leave right now. "You're right, I'm sorry. Come on, sit down. Tell me what happened." Phyllis explained everything in detail. Alex felt terrible; she really had made a lot of self-improvements for this guy. He could side with him if he had been with the same Phyllis he had been married too, but this 'new Phyllis' seemed like a pretty decent human being… unless she was only 'new Phyllis' around him. He told her not to give up, that the right guy was out there somewhere: the usual stuff you say to someone when they've been dumped.

"Well… thanks for listening Alex. I guess I'll be going so you can enjoy your date. I know they're few and far between. At least one of us won't be miserable tonight." Alex glanced at the clock as she made her way to the door. Elaine was twenty minutes late, _of course. _"Wait Phyllis… Elaine's late and I'm not hopeful that she'll show up. I have some dinner already made; it'd be a shame to waste it. Would you care to join me? You know, seeing as you didn't get to finish yours." She managed a weak smile, "Thanks Alex." She sat back down and hugged him. This was the moment Elaine chose to arrive and let herself in, unprepared for the shock of seeing Phyllis, let alone seeing Phyllis hugging Alex in dim lighting. "Hi…" she said, alerting Phyllis and Alex of her presence. "Oh, hi Elaine." Alex said, not thinking much of the fact that he was here with Phyllis. Jealousy ran through Elaine like a tidal wave. With her arms crossed she walked over to Alex and asked in a very harsh tone, "Alex… why on Earth are you here hugging your ex-wife?" Alex abruptly stood up and began to try and explain, "Elaine it's not what you may think. You see, Phyllis was- wait a minute, why am I explaining myself? You can go off with Arnie day after day but I'm banned from seeing Phyllis?"

"She's your ex-wife!" she shouted. Alex couldn't believe this. He shouted back, "And Arnie is your ex-boyfriend whom you lived with—and moved away with—as far as I'm concerned you may as well have been!"

"Arnie and I are just friends and you know that."

"Oh, and you know that Phyllis and I aren't?" he questioned with annoyance in his voice. "Well you're here in almost dark hugging her." she observed, to which Alex rolled his eyes. "Because she was just dumped by a guy and is feeling down. Anyways, why do you care so much? You're late and I can only assume that you were with Arnie." Elaine was offended, "For your information I'm late because Jada was running late and then I was stuck in traffic. I don't like the idea of you spending any time with her! You may not remember but the last time you saw her you told me that you kissed her. I don't care if that was before you and I were together or not. I don't like it at all." Now Alex was steaming, "I can't believe you! I tell you that I don't like you seeing Arnie and you disregard my feelings and see him anyways, and I'm forced to torment myself trying to figure out what you're really doing with him. But I have to stop seeing Phyllis because you don't like it? Well no, as long as you're spending every second with Arnie I'm going to keep seeing Phyllis."

"What do you mean by **keep** seeing her?"

"Did you really expect me to lock myself at home while you went gallivanting along with Arnie? Do you expect me to be bored and lonely all the time? I don't care if you're trying to make something up to him; it's gone on far too long. Phyllis has been kind enough to keep me company. If you can be friends with your ex, I can be friends with mine."

Elaine screeched, "That's not fair! I'm supposed to live with guilt for the rest of my life, huh? At least I didn't keep my seeing Arnie hidden—I can't believe you—I hate you for this!" A haunting silence instantly filled the room. After several seconds, Phyllis (who had awkwardly been standing aside witnessing the argument) said, "You know, I think I'm feeling better. I'll just go." She literally ran for the door. Alex stood motionless with a blank stare. This was the first time Elaine had said the words 'I hate you' in their relationship. "Just leave." he finally managed to say. He started walking away, but Elaine gripped his arm and turned him back to face her. "No," she said quite sternly, "we still have a lot more that needs to be discussed."

"You said enough. Now just go and run to your boyfriend and get the hell out of my life!" he ended up bellowing, scaring Elaine who immediately collapsed into tears. "You don't mean this."

"Yes I do. If you hate me so much then you shouldn't have any trouble leaving."

"I said I hate you for **this, **not I hate you, hate you! Can't you understand why I'd be upset and shocked to see you with your ex-wife? And then find out you've been seeing her behind my back?" she continued to sob. Alex wasn't going to let her tears get to him (and it was shockingly easy right now). "I'm through understanding, Elaine. I've done so much understand, forgiving, and keeping my mouth shut these past months and I am done. I can't take another second of it. I've tried to get **you **to understand how I was feeling but you can't seem to take a hint very well. I've kept quiet as best as I could but I can't do it anymore. You've pushed me too far."

"Well I don't know what to do anymore!" she screamed. "I'm trying to make him happy, I'm trying to make you happy, I'm trying to make the kids happy—I'm trying to make everyone happy! Do you think I like spending time with Arnie? Sure, we've done some fun things but I'd rather be doing them with you. I can't help that every time I seem to be free from him something else goes wrong!"

"Oh come on, you can't see by now that this is all some scheme? He wants you back! As long as you're spending time with him he's not going to get any better. You need to tell him that you're done and just forget the day you met him. You've done what you could and if you're still feeling guilty then just be with him. You know what; even if you don't feel guilty, just go be with him."

"It's like you're intentionally trying to hurt me now." she wept. "If you don't want to be with me why don't you just say it instead of putting us both through this?"

"I don't want to be with you: I want to be with the Elaine I fell in love with before all of this crap. You've changed and I don't like it one bit. What happened to when you said if I didn't like you spending time with Arnie you'd stop? You said that to me when this whole thing started. I think I've made it pretty clear that I don't like it. And I think I've tried pretty hard to work at changing my attitude towards this. I'd like to see some effort from you. Yes, you heard me on that whole Atlantic City thing, but it still scared me that you even considered it. Do I not mean as much to you as you do to me?"

"How can you say that? I'm doing this **for us**! Do you think it's been easy for me knowing that you're suffering from this? You mean the world to me! And I haven't changed: you have. You're not the same Alex I fell in love with either. Where did he go, huh?" The sorrow was quickly turning into anger and resentment. Alex was still fuming, "Excuse me if I've changed," he said sarcastically. "But how would you even know, you're never around! Seeing me a little bit at work does not count as spending time together; not anymore. I could appreciate why you saw Arnie at first, but as I said, and I'll say it again and again, it's gone on long enough. Simka was right, you seeing Arnie really has torn us apart." Elaine was disgusted. There was no need to bring Simka into this. _If anyone is tearing us apart it's __**him**__! _"Well then, why don't **you** and **her** or **you **and **Phyllis **or **you **and **whoever **go run off and life a happy and perfect life together?!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'd love it if I did. That way you could go run to Arnie and cry on his shoulder like you've wanted to do this whole time! I know he'll be waiting with open arms. I'm sure it's all that he could to keep from smiling at the success of his plan. Don't think I don't know that that's the real reason you've been putting off having sex with me. You regret leaving Arnie. You were only homesick in Chicago so you created feelings for me as an excuse to leave. You still love Arnie, there's no other explanation. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you went to Chicago to see him and not Gwen. I bet you found him and told him to come to New York."

"There is no plan! Arnie isn't the kind of man who would do that. And even if he was, I'm smart enough to figure it out. And I can't even begin tell you how mad I am that you think that I've been lying to you this whole time. At least give me credit for caring about you enough that if I wanted to be with Arnie that I'd be up front with you about it! Another thing, how dare you say such things about me! I don't know who you think you are but everything you just said about me regretting leaving Arnie, still loving him, and the accusations of me going to Chicago to see him and not Gwen are absolutely uncalled for. How, after seven or eight years of knowing me, could you possibly think such vile things? On top of this, you weren't honest about your seeing Phyllis no matter how innocent it may have been. **That **scares **me**. You really aren't the same person you used to be. The Alex I know wouldn't have doubted me for a single second. The Alex I know would give me the space I needed before taking the next step and wouldn't constantly bring it up. The Alex I know would respect me no matter what. Now you're an angry, pushy, sneaky, and extremely hurtful Alex who makes me sick!" Alex was at a loss. All he knew was that he had to keep from doing something he regretted—like breaking or throwing something. He had a history of a short temper, but over time he'd learned how to control it; at least much more than he used too. His anger hadn't been tested like this in many, many years. After irately pacing around the room for a minute or so, he finally said as calmly as he could, "If I am any of those things, and I really resent the accusations because I have busted my butt trying not to be bitter, it's because of **you**. I'm not some inanimate object without any feelings that you can come and leave as you wish; I do have feelings you know. I know I'm a man and I'm expected to be strong, but I can't be strong anymore. This is causing me too much pain." He walked over to the door. As he opened it he said, "If you ever decide to stop seeing Arnie and admit that this has all be a game, maybe we can talk again. But for right now I don't want to be anywhere near you, I don't want to have anything do with you, I don't want to think about you. I wish I never wrote that damn letter in the first place. If I hadn't you'd be perfectly content in Chicago and I'd at least be free from this pain." Failing to hide his anger anymore, he slammed the door and left. Elaine fell to the couch as she sobbed. Several seconds later Alex burst back in saying through his own sobs, "This is my apartment: you get out." She wasn't sure she could stand, but she wanted to get out of there and fast. She stumbled to her feet, she was almost out the door when she turned around and begged, "Alex, don't do this." Resisting the urge to yell, he sternly repeated, "Out."

"I wish that I had never **read **that letter!" with that she was gone with a slam of the door. Neither of them could believe what had just happened. They weren't even sure quite what it was either? Was it just a really bad fight (the worst they'd ever had)? Were they broken up? They were completely lost.

While Alex drank and drank his sorrows away (at least tried; the drinking ended up making him feel worse), Elaine wandered the streets. She didn't care how dangerous it was. She was completely distraught. _How did this get so out of hand? _She couldn't figure out how she was feeling other than sick to her stomach. She was so angry at everything that was said as well as hurt, yet a part of her felt bad. Had this really be so hard on Alex? But her angry was overruling; she didn't want to feel bad for Alex. It's one thing to be hurt but it's another to be cruel. If she had done anything she didn't intend it. Alex's seemed intended and planned. _I should have seen it coming. _Every time they had a date lately, they seemed to always end up having some sort of argument.

_How dare he insist that I have feelings for Arnie; I have been nothing but honest with him. Have I ever given him a reason not to trust me? I think I proved myself with Atlantic City. And how dare he allege Arnie of making this whole thing a scheme! He knew Arnie too; he should know that Arnie wouldn't do such a thing. He's too nice and innocent of a guy. _For some reason, that part was sticking more than anything else said. Impulsively, she decided to prove Alex wrong and to see Arnie for herself.


	26. The Truth Is Out

"Coming!" Arnie called as he heard rapid knocking at the door. He opened the door and saw Elaine in tears. "Elaine, what's the matter?" he asked with much concern in his voice. Elaine hadn't intended to still be crying when she got there, but she couldn't stop. As she walked in, Arnie put his arm around her and he led her to the couch. Sitting down, she whimpered, "Alex and I just had the biggest fight we've ever had. I think our relationship is over." She buried her head into a pillow, but Arnie pulled her up and had her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Elaine. What about?" She didn't really want to answer; she didn't want to hurt his feelings. "A lot of things—things that have been building up since before we even got together, I'm sure." Arnie continued to comfort her as she cried a bit longer, not saying anything more than 'it's okay'. Eventually she was able to cool down. She sat up, "Thank you, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to come here just to dump this all on you. Lord knows that you've heard enough about me and Alex. I try not to talk about him... but I guess it doesn't matter now… it doesn't look like I'll be seeing him very much anymore." She forced herself not to start crying again. Now came time to ask him what was really on her mind… but how was she going to begin? It was a funny thing to bring up, let alone hurtful. But she wasn't the one who was accusing him of scheming: it was Alex. Right now she didn't care how bitter Arnie may be at him. "Arnie… I have something rather… big to ask you." This got his eager attention. "Oh yeah? What's that?" he questioned as he moved closer to her. Taking a deep breath, she started, "This is kind of hard for me to say…" before she could finished thinking of how to word things, Arnie started to kiss her. Abruptly, she stood up, "Arnie, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to kiss you." he simply answered.

"I can see that… but why? You said that you were over me." Arnie stood up and proposed, "Elaine, feelings have nothing to do with this. If you ask me, you need a night with someone who cares a lot about you. You need to get your mind off of Alex and start thinking about someone else." Blind to where this was headed, she naively responded, "I don't think so, Arnie. I think that would only make things worse. If I get back with Alex and he found out it would surely end everything for once and for all."

"Oh come on, Elaine, you two had it coming. You weren't meant for each other. What do you see in him anyway? The guy has no ambition. You have dreams for yourself, he's just gonna hold you back. You belong with someone who's willing to help you reach your dreams… someone like me."

"Oh my gosh… he was right…"

"What are you talking about?" he questioned. Elaine answered, "Alex was right. He was right about you this whole time. You just wanted to get me back. Your life isn't in the shambles at all, is it?"

Arnie confessed, "Okay, you got me… I came here initially in shambles, but I went job hunting about a week after our lunch while you were at work and got a pretty good one. But I realized just how much I missed you, so I milked the job hunt a little longer. Then I got that second job so it'd be a little more believable. I went on phony dates to throw you off—making things better and then having them crash again. Actually I'm pretty impressed. I knew that you and Alex would split eventually. But don't blame me for this; you guys really did have it coming. It doesn't take a genius to see that your relationship is strictly based on the friendship you once had and the remaining tensions from that. Why do you think you haven't slept with him? You know that once that happens everything is down the tube. I know this isn't like me but you were really special to me, and I'd do anything to get ya back."

Elaine nearly fainted from all of this. _How was I so blind? _What was hurting her more than the scheme and Alex being right about it was the fact that Arnie brought up some very possible thoughts. Her relationship with Alex **was** so strongly based on their friendship and 'previous tensions'. If that was lost, what was left? She was terrified of losing what they had; though… she might have already lost it. How hadn't she been able to put this all together? And even if she had, how would she talk about it with Alex. A topic like this could really kill a mood. There would be time to focus on that later; right now she had to focus on her fury towards Arnie. "I cannot believe that you would do such a thing to me! This has to be the most selfish display I have ever seen. You acted like a helpless, broken man… you knew that I wouldn't easily leave Alex so you set up this whole ordeal. I can't believe you! I felt sorry for you! I spent so much time trying to help you because I felt so guilty about how I ended things. Well that guilt is out the window. Never again will I feel an ounce of remorse for leaving. I will never get back together with you, ever. You made me hurt someone I truly love. Who are you to tell me what my relationship with Alex is? It's none of your damn business and you know absolutely nothing about us **or **Alex. I hope you're satisfied because you may have ruined him and me forever. You absolutely disgust me. I never want to see you again." She managed to be brave through her entire tirade and concluded by marching towards the door… but Arnie ran and cut her off. "Be reasonable, Elaine. You can't make me out to be scum; I did what I did because I love you. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"If you really loved me you wouldn't have done this to me. If you really cared you would have been upfront about your feelings in the beginning instead of putting me and especially poor Alex through hell." Arnie grew angry, "The guy put** me** through hell: it was time for me to return the favor."

"Alex did nothing to you, absolutely nothing. He put up with me helping you as best as he could. You owe him big time for that as well as me." Pushing him out from in front of the door she finished, "Now move and let me get out of here."

"Elaine, wait-" he tried to stop, but she wasn't having it. "No, I'm getting out of here and don't you even think of trying to see me again. You make me sick!" with that she slammed the door and ran.

She ran out of the building and down the sidewalk. Once she was out of sight from the building she shrunk down to the ground against a wall and buried her face in her knees. _This can't be happening; this is all some terrible, terrible dream. _She was at a complete loss as of what to do. Where could she turn? Not to Alex; she'd be lucky if he ever spoke to her again. She couldn't talk to Simka; she may say 'I told you so'. Maybe not in so many words, but she knew Simka and she'd have some trouble hiding her joy of being right. The same with Alex, but only he wouldn't gloat that he was right (maybe), she just didn't want to admit to him that she was wrong. She supposed she could go home and call Gwen, but it was probably too late. Tony would listen, but what if Alex had been talking to him? Guys stick together. She hadn't felt this alone since her divorce, but even that was different. The way Vince had been neglecting her she... _Oh no..._ That's when it really hit her. She was doing to Alex what Vince had done to her. Only she wasn't cheating… but now she was seeing how he was suspicious. _I am such an idiot. I can't believe that this is what he's been going through. I can't believe I didn't see it—I can't believe any of this. Can't we just go back to the night Arnie came and have me not answer the door? Then Alex and I would be together and happy… _Then she thought a bit on that last statement. _Although, Arnie really did bring up an interesting point when he observed Alex and I's relationship. No, he can't be right… but it kind of does make sense; but still ridiculous at the same time. Don't I know by now that Alex and I are so much more than friends who spent years being attracted to each other? Isn't that why we __**both **__agreed not to rush in to anything physical? But he's been ready and I haven't… why aren't I feeling ready? What does this mean? _Instead of continuing to torment herself, she decided that she needed to speak to Alex no matter how hard it was going to be, and no matter how much she didn't want to admit she was wrong after such a huge display.

"Alex… Alex open up we need to talk." There was no answer. She knocked harder and faster, "Alex please, please, **please** open up!" After waiting a few more seconds to see if he came to the door she pleaded, "Okay Alex, I'm sorry. I am truly and deeply sorry for everything that has been going on and for everything that was said tonight. You were right: it was all a scheme. He told me himself. I'm not going to see him anymore, nor do I want to think of him. I feel no guilt towards him anymore—the guilt I feel now is for what I've done to you. I'm so sorry that I didn't see it before and I feel like the biggest jerk on the planet. I love you so much and I don't want to lose you. So please, **please **open the door." He still didn't answer. Panic went through Elaine's mind. _What if he's done something impetuous? What if he's hurt?! _Not that it was like Alex to make a rash decision, but she still couldn't help but be concerned. Suddenly remembering that she had a key, she unlocked the door and tried to open it. Unfortunately, she couldn't get past the chain lock. She groaned and pushed the door as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge. Peeking her head in, she looked to see if she could see anything, but it was too dark. "Alex Reiger open this door or at least let me know you're okay."

"G-o aw-ay E-laine." he grumbled drunkenly. Elaine was relieved to hear his voice no matter how slurred it was. "No, I'm not going away. We need to talk and we need to talk right now." He grew silent again much to Elaine's chagrin. After trying to forcibly push the door open several more times she gave up. There was probably no use trying to talk to him while he was that drunk anyways. She pulled the door shut again and kicked the bottom of it angrily. "Forget it! Call me when you've sobered up."


	27. Always Something

The following days were a few of the longest days of Elaine's life. She waited by the phone praying that Alex would call—she even called a few times herself, but he just hung up the minute he heard her voice. Soon enough, he began screening his calls. She even thought about making one of the kids call, but that wouldn't be fair to them. Though she hadn't said anything, they knew that something very bad had happened. As usual, they tried getting Elaine to tell them all the details, but she was very vague. All they knew was that she and Alex had a big fight; and by her inability to smile, they weren't confident that they'd be seeing Alex again. This especially affected Jason seeing as it had been a fear of his all along. Then of course with Jason and her mother both down, Jennifer wasn't in the greatest of moods. It took Elaine a while, seeing as she had a lot of other things on her mind, but when she noticed how down the kids were, she forced herself to cheer up. They weren't really buying it, but they tried to play along. She decided they all needed a night out. They went to a show, out to their favorite restaurant for dinner, and she bought them each a new toy. Although she was usually against bribes or buying their forgiveness or affection, she felt that it was okay for this situation. Besides, it helped her feel a little less guilty… which eased at least **one **thing on her mind. After her time with the kids, she decided that it was time to stop moping and to get back to the garage. _I hope he's there and ready to talk. _

The guys greeted her like they usually would: cheerfully and happy to see her. _That's odd... _She could have sworn that Alex would have mentioned something about what happened.

Not long after her, Alex arrived. "Reiger, where you been?" Louie asked, seemingly annoyed. He hadn't noticed Elaine sitting on the steps, so he just grumbled, "Leave me alone, I don't feel like talking to anyone, especially you."

"What happened?" he pried.

"None of your business." Walking over to the table, he joined Jim and Tony, still having yet to notice Elaine. She decided to remain unnoticed for a little while longer, wanting to observe to see how she should approach him. "You okay, Alex? You look miserable." Tony asked and perceived. "I know I do Tony, but I really just rather not talk about it." Despite his nagging curiosity, Tony gave Alex his space and dealt the cards. Just as they started their game Elaine came up from behind Alex, causing him to jump. "Alex," she said, "we need to talk." Without looking at her, he stood up throwing his cards onto the table and walked away. Instantly, everyone was aware of why Alex was down and why they hadn't seen him. It explained where Elaine had been too, only, she'd been gone so much they naturally assumed she was with Arnie: apparently not. Elaine followed, "Alex, please talk to me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. How many times can I say it? You were absolutely right and I was wrong. Please forgive me. Please talk to me." she begged in a semi-hushed tone, not wanting to put on a show for the entire garage. Still avoiding eye contact, he mumbled, "We are not discussing this here."

"Then let's go outside or somewhere where we **can** discuss this. I don't know what you want from me! If I said I wasn't sorry would you talk? Work with me here! You said yourself that we could talk when I stopped seeing Arnie and admitted it was a scheme. Well I'm here and I'm admitting it all and you have to know how much I hate admitting it." He finally turned, angrily, and near growled, "I said **maybe**. I'm not ready to forgive and forget yet so just leave me alone." Ironic that he'd want her to leave him alone when part of all this was about Elaine not being around. "No, I'm not going to leave you alone!" she shouted. "Not until we've at least tried to work things out."

"I don't get you—wouldn't you rather 'wait until I'm ready'?" he mocked. "I've certainly done my fair share of waiting for you, I'm entitled to a little time myself." he shouted back. Everyone tried not to acknowledge what was going on, but they couldn't help but glance over at their friends when they heard Elaine huff, "I knew this was coming, I knew it was only a matter of time until you brought sex into this!" Alex noticed all eyes on them and hushed, "Would you keep your voice down?" He pulled her into a far corner and continued, "Excuse me for bringing it up, but it happens to be a big part of a relationship."

"Well until it's in ours' can we please just not talk about it? There is enough we need to discuss without dragging in my issues around it."

"It happens to play a big part here, Elaine. There is no other reason I can come up with for you holding out other than lingering feelings for Arnie. Why else would someone like you be putting it off for this long?" The minute those words were out of his mouth he immediately regretted it. There was probably a better way of wording the thought… "What are you implying, that I'm loose?" she interrogated, quite offended at the insinuation. He hastily corrected, "No, no, no, I didn't mean that how it sounded… but Elaine, it's no secret that you've never really been… well you know, you're open about it. I mean come on, how many times did you tell me about **great** dates you had? I'm not saying it's a bad thing but you have to know that this is where I'm coming from; this isn't like you. So it's got to be something I'm doing or something else that you're not telling me."

"Okay, this is not the conversation I meant when I said we needed to talk. I won't talk about this here."

"Oh then of course we'll stop because you're wishes are all that matter." he said bitterly and sarcastically. "It doesn't matter that I didn't want to discuss anything here, just like it didn't matter when I wanted you to stop spending time with Arnie. But we'll of course respect **your** wishes!"

"Would you knock it off already?! How many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry? I'm not trying to make it seem like your feelings and opinions don't matter… they do. I just know that we need to talk about this, and it's killing me not knowing when that will be. Understand that this hasn't been easy for me either—especially the past few days." As he walked away, he remarked, "Well good, it's about time you did some of the suffering." As she tried to follow him, Louie stopped her, "Phone for you, Nardo." She fought the urge to scream, and frustratingly replied, "Can't you see that I'm in the middle of something? Tell whoever it is they can wait." She started to push her way past him but he caught her arm. "No, Nardo… I think you should take it. It sounds pretty serious." When Louie had concern in his voice, she knew that it was time to start worrying. Running into his cage, she answered the call. In the meantime, Alex took this opportunity to try and cool off. It was hard not to look at Jim, Tony, and Latka, so he went into the bathroom.

Elaine hung up the phone, and said to Louie, who was now in the cage with her, "Louie… I uh, I won't be driving for a little while." By the seriousness in her shaky voice, Louie knew not to give her a hard time like he normally would (especially with her recent attendance patterns these days). He quietly nodded as she exited the cage. Hurriedly, she walked to the table and grabbed her purse out from underneath. As she did, Tony questioned, "Hey Elaine… what's wrong? Who was that?" She weakly answered, "My great-aunt in Buffalo is very, **very** ill… she isn't looking good at all so I have to get up there as soon as possible. Oh no—what am I going to do about the kids? I haven't seen her yet; I don't know how she looks. I can't take them and traumatize them; I'm not really sure what's wrong. My brother was quick on the phone. Oh Tony, I absolutely hate asking such a huge favor like this, but could you please, please, watch them? I'd ask Alex but I guess it's no secret anymore that we're having some issues right now." Tony agreed without reluctance. Elaine hugged him and kissed his cheek, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Their babysitter, Jada, is staying with them tonight, so if you could either take them back to your place or stay with them at mine that'd be great. I'm sure if you talk to Jada she'll come and help so you can work. I-" Tony cut her off and said, "Elaine, Elaine, don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. Now go see your aunt." Once again she thanked him and headed for the door. Alex came out of the bathroom soon enough to hear what was going on. He rushed after her, immediately putting their fight on hold. "Elaine, I heard… I'm so, so sorry." This wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he said it was time for her to do some of the suffering… he felt terrible. "Is there anything I can do… or say? Why don't I drive you, I don't think it's the best idea for you to go up there alone." Elaine, also putting her anger towards him on hold, answered, "I appreciate the offer, Alex… I really do; but I think I just need some time alone right now. I can't handle my aunt, my family, and whatever's going on between us at the same time. I'll see you when I get back." Respectfully, Alex nodded and agreed by simply saying, "Okay." and watched as Elaine hurried out.

Sitting down with Tony and Jim, he apologized, "I'm sorry about all that…" Jim spoke up, "I-I never realized that you and Elaine were s-so un-unhappy." He didn't reply, but he thought to himself, _I don't know what we are anymore…_


	28. Going Home

After what felt like the longest trip of her life, Elaine made it to Buffalo. As soon as she got there, she went to the hospital where her brother, Tommy, said she'd been admitted. Looking at her beloved great-aunt pained her. Her health had always been pretty fragile but never had she seen her like this. "She's incredibly weak right now, but I wouldn't give up hope just yet, she may come around." the doctor informed. In the meantime, they were told to go home since it was well past visiting hours, and that they'd call if there was any change in her condition. This was too much to take in. Elaine hadn't even known she was sick. Her family said that it was a sudden thing—as far as they knew anyway. Her aunt wasn't one who liked to lead on when something was wrong. They had to find out for themselves. It was the housekeeper who found her passed out and contacted the family and the hospital.

Despite the circumstances, Elaine felt kind of good to be reunited with her family. It had been a while since she had seen any of them. They were all to stay at her aunt's house while they waited. Growing up, Elaine loved visiting the house. It was big and beautiful: a small mansion made of brick with white trimming. Her aunt never had kids of her own, so Elaine and her three little brothers were spoiled. They all even had bedrooms there. Elaine and her brother Tommy each had their own room since they were the oldest, and her two youngest brothers, Brian and Dylan, shared a room. When she was little, Elaine always pretended that she was a princess and that the house was her castle. _Silly, _she thought, but it didn't stop her from smiling every time she thought about it. It was hard to believe that this could be her last time ever being there. She walked through the house, revisiting memories she hadn't thought of in years. It made her sad, but at least she was keeping her mind from wondering back to Alex.

It occurred to her that she should probably let Jada and the kids know that Tony would be the one showing up tomorrow instead of her. Despite the hour, she called. Once that was taken care of she decided to try and get some sleep. She had been resting for maybe an hour or two when she was awoken by Brian saying that they had to get to the hospital immediately. Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time. Their aunt had passed. They were at the hospital for a couple more hours before they finally went back to the house. She knew that there'd be no sleeping tonight, but she was very thankful that she had at least gotten there in time to start saying goodbye, even if her aunt hadn't been able to hear or acknowledge it.

She lied in bed and thought a lot about her aunt, it was all so sudden that it was making it nearly impossible to process. She'd been so busy with her own life that she hadn't even thought of her family in months. Maybe if she had, there would have been some hint of something being wrong. _Am I just prone to guilt or something? _Just when she was over the guilt from Arnie, she then felt guilty about Alex, and now before she could get over the guilt about Alex, she felt the guilt of neglecting her family. She started wishing that she could call Alex. She needed to hear his voice; but she felt odd about it. Though they'd been more civilized towards each other right before she left, there was still no pretending that nothing was wrong. She finally decided to get up and make herself some tea. When she got to the kitchen she was startled by Tommy there as well. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone else was up."

"Neither did I." he replied. Elaine managed a chuckle. Tommy went on, "You couldn't sleep either, huh?" She just shook her head as she started heating up some water. "Yeah... hard to believe she's really gone. Seems like only yesterday we were all kids and running around like maniacs."

"I think your memory is a little off: you, Brian, and Dylan were all running around, I was usually up in my room or out in the yard." she half-joked, and to which he responded, "Oh that's right... always off in some day dream."

"Hey, what's wrong with that? I was a very thoughtful and imaginative child."

"And uptight about everything. I remember once I was forced to help you clean your room as a punishment and you kept yelling at me because I wasn't putting things back in their 'proper places'." Elaine rolled her eyes, "First of all you were the one who messed it up, second of all I was entitled to having my things the way I wanted them, and lastly, do we really want to bicker about this now?" Noticing his sister had a sudden edge about her, he backed off. The kettle started to whistle and Elaine poured the water into her teacup. Tommy watched as he finished eating the sandwich he had made as a midnight snack. "Mind if I drink this here?" Elaine questioned. "Not at all." he replied. They were quiet for a little bit, and then Tommy asked, trying to make conversation, "So... it's been a while since we've really spoken... how's life been for you? Oh and how are the kids? How old are they now?" Elaine set her tea down as she answered, "The kids are wonderful. Jason's twelve and Jennifer's ten."

"Wow, time sure has flown by, hasn't it? I haven't seen them since they were what... six and eight?" Elaine nodded, "Yeah... boy, it really has been a while. I suppose I should be coming home to visit more, huh?" Tommy shrugged, "Or we should come visit you from time to time."

"Oh come on, you hate New York City. The last time you went you nearly fainted because you were so overwhelmed by everything going on." He looked back, and after a pause said, "Yeah, you should come home more." She then asked him how things were in his life. He talked for a little while and she listened, though towards the end, Tommy noticed her drifting. "Well, I think I've gone on enough. I'm starting to bore you." She looked up, "What? ...oh no, sorry go on, I'm listening."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." she brushed off, "Guess I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nah, it's just some relationship stuff… and of course I'm still trying to get it through my head that Aunt Claire is really gone." He nodded sympathetically, agreeing, and then questioned, "You still seeing that same guy you last told me about? What was his name again... Arnie was it? I know it was something like that." At the mention of Arnie, Elaine started tearing up. This, not going unnoticed by Tommy, gave him the impression that she wasn't. "I guess not." he said. She rubbed her eyes, "No, it's not that... I stopped dating him over a year ago... But it's because of him that I may have ruined my current relationship."

"Want to talk about it?" he asked again. She felt bad because she felt like she shouldn't be complaining about silly relationship troubles when a beloved family member had just died, but Tommy insisted that it was alright. She told him everything that had happened in great detail. She felt a little bit better after getting it all out to someone who wasn't going to take sides; or at this point, anyone.

Once she was back in her room, she decided to call Alex. She'd have to call the garage though seeing as he was probably still at work. Louie answered and she asked if by any chance Alex was around. To her disappointment, he wasn't. But Louie offered to put the call through to Alex over the radio. She was hesitant because she knew that this meant Louie would hear every word of their conversation, but she decided that she didn't care.

Louie said to Alex through the transmitter, "Reiger, I'm putting a call from Nardo through."

"Alex?" she started.

"Elaine, hi. How are you? How's your aunt?" he questioned genuinely. Elaine weakly replied, "She passed away earlier tonight..."

"Oh Elaine, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks..."

"Are you alright?"

"I've been better." she answered truthfully. "I don't really know why I called. I guess I just wanted-" Alex didn't have to see her to know that she was struggling to hold back tears. "Elaine, it's okay to cry."

"No, it's not. **I am so sick of crying**. The last thing I needed right now was another thing to cry over. I know that's a terribly selfish thing to say but I am just so sick of crying. I'm sick of feeling sick, I'm sick of feeling drained, I am just so sick of everything right now." Alex was at a loss for words; and though he probably shouldn't after everything that had happened, he was starting to feel bad for how he had been treating her—whether she deserved it or not. Nonetheless, there were definitely some things that didn't really need to be said. No matter how mad she might have made him, he absolutely hated seeing her... or hearing her this way. He just barely heard her whisper, "I wish I'd let you come here with me." Not acknowledging her last statement, he said, "You really should try and get some sleep. Call me again when you get the chance, alright? It doesn't matter what time, just call me when you need too. Again, I'm so sorry."

"Okay... and thank you."

There was a brief pause and then Alex concluded quietly, "I love you." Never had she ever been so happy to hear him say those words. Letting out the slightest sob, she murmured, "I love you, too."

Once she had hung up, Alex said to Louie, "I'm going up to Buffalo." Louie bit his tongue, he didn't want him leaving in the middle of a shift—and more importantly taking one of the cabs with him, but he let him go. After giving Alex his consent, he said to himself, "I'm gonna hate myself in the morning."


	29. Things Happen For A Reason

When Alex arrived in Buffalo the next evening (after having gotten lost a number of times), he realized that he had no idea where he was going. And was Elaine at a hospital or a hotel? He didn't even know what number she had called from. He found a payphone and looked through the phone book. If he could find the house he'd probably have some way of finding Elaine. _Oh what was the name now… _He knew he'd heard Elaine mention her once or twice. _It starts wit know that. But wait, wouldn't it be under her husband's name? Was she even married? No, he died, Elaine mentioned that. But still, she probably would have kept her married name. _Slamming the book shut he started pacing around. He knew that he could probably get some information from Jason and Jennifer. Going back into the phone booth, he picked up the phone and called. "Hello?" Tony answered. "Oh Tony, it's Alex. Is one of the kids around?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, Elaine's great-aunt passed away last night and she called me and was upset and said she wish I was there so I decided to drive up. Unfortunately, I don't know where she called from and I don't know where she's staying… I don't even know what name to look for in the phonebook or if it's even listed."

"I'll ask one of the kids, hang on." Suddenly, Alex hollered, "Wait! Wait!" Luckily, Tony was still there and had only just started to get one of the kids to the phone. "What is it?" he questioned. Alex answered, "I can't ask them… they don't know about the death, do they?"

"Nope, I haven't heard from Elaine."

"Oh great…" he thought aloud. "What am I going to do?"

"I guess I could look and see if she has an address book lying around." Tony suggested. "That's a great idea." Alex uttered hopefully. He waited as Tony got up and wandered around looking for something that may have an address. Happily, he found a planner—and hoped that the information would be in it. Flipping through, he came across a page that said family. To both his and Alex's relief, there was an address. "What's the name?"

"It started with a C…"

"Claire?"

"Claire! That's what it was."

Alex jotted down the information as Tony read it to him. After thanking Tony, he hung up and went to find the house. It took him a while to find since he didn't have a proper map, but he managed to find it. Or so he thought. This looked like a fairly large house. Was Elaine from a rich family? How come he never knew? He double and triple checked that he was at the right address: he was. Cautiously he approached the door and knocked. It was now a bit after nine PM. _Maybe I shouldn't have come at this hour… or at all. I don't know anyone in her family; they're going to think I'm some stranger. _A man answered, "Can I help you?"

"Hi… uh, is Elaine Nardo here?" he asked nervously. The man answered, "Yeah, she's here. Who are you?"

"I'm Alex Reiger, Elaine's-" he was interrupted by the man, "Oh, so you're Alex?" Now Alex was under the impression that his name had come up in conversation... "Yeah… look, I'm sure what you've heard about me hasn't been the best right now, but I'm not here to cause any trouble. I'm here because Elaine didn't sound so good when she called me last and I at least want her to know that things are going to be okay. I just want to be here for her. If she asks me to leave then I'll leave, but I just want to be able to see her." The man grinned and extended his hand, "I'm Tommy, Elaine's brother." Alex shook his hand then Tommy welcomed him inside and started showing him to Elaine's room. As they walked down the halls Alex said, "I'm so sorry about your aunt; and for showing up at this hour."

"It's okay; it's not too late, and I haven't been able to sleep anyway—none of us really have. And thank you. I guess it wasn't really a shock though. She was always sickly and didn't really take care of herself."

"I'm sorry, what a shame… can I ask what caused her death?" he asked curiously, and Tommy answered, "Doctor said that it was a heart attack."

"Wow…" then he couldn't help but ask, "How did Elaine take it?" Tommy shrugged, "She was certainly upset; she's been locked in her room for a majority of the day. I think it hit **her** pretty sudden. But she's never liked leading on when she's upset—at least about something big or serious." Alex knew what he meant; she valued being strong and hated to admit when she was feeling weak.

When they got to Elaine's room, Tommy left. Quietly, he opened the door, being careful not to make noise in case she was asleep. However, she did hear the door open and turned over to see who it was. When she saw, she questioned through the dark room, "Alex… is that you?" He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, "Yeah, it's me." She was so happy to see him, she hadn't realized that he heard her say that she wanted him to be here with her; or maybe he just knew. Sitting up, she clung to him as tightly as she could and which he reciprocated. After a minute or so, Alex looked at her and asked, "Are you alright?" She looked at him a moment, trying to get the strength to bravely answer 'yes', but the more she looked into his eyes, the more troubled she felt. "No, I'm not." she wailed. Everything that had been going on the past several days, and maybe even things from before then, came pouring out of her. He had never heard her cry like this before… it completely broke his heart. Lying down next to her, he held her tighter and tighter, letting her cry. He wanted to stop her, but he knew that she needed to get everything out; it appeared as if she'd been holding in quite a bit. He was amazed that no one came in to check on her, though at the same time relieved. Somehow, he managed to remain strong and keep himself from falling apart as well; he didn't want to complicate things any more. Right now, nothing else mattered except comforting her. "I'm so sorry, Alex. I feel like a complete fool for acting like this."

"Don't apologize, Elaine." he insisted as he gently stroked her hair. "Everything's going to be okay. Just take slow, deep, breaths." She followed his advice and finally started to calm down… eventually falling asleep—as did Alex.

The next morning was hectic. Funeral arrangements had to be made, Elaine introduced Alex to her family, they had to go shopping for clothes; Elaine had asked Alex to stay and he hadn't packed anything nor had she, Elaine had to tell the kids about their great, great-aunt and asked them if they wanted to attend the funeral (they declined because they didn't really know her and they didn't like the idea, though Elaine knew a big part was because they liked having Tony watch them), and all the other things that went along with a death. It certainly kept everyone busy. Alex and Elaine put any problems between them on hold; there wasn't any room right now. In fact, it was almost as if they had put their relationship on hold; other than sharing a bed and Alex comforting Elaine during her weak moments, their manner towards each other was completely amicable.

The night after the funeral, Elaine just wanted to get out of the house. The family stress was starting to get to her and she needed to get away. She and Alex went for a long walk around the neighborhood. They didn't say much, only when Elaine pointed out certain places or things. She thought back on her thoughts from a couple months (or so) earlier about wanting to take Alex stargazing. _Figures. _Here she was in the perfect place, even knowing a perfect spot, and she wasn't quite sure where 'they' stood. Though, she felt more confident that they still had a future together than she did when she left. He wouldn't have come all the way up here and wouldn't have been so wonderful if he didn't have any intentions of wanting to work on their relationship. She was tempted to bring up what needed to be discussed, but she was too tired. Inadvertently, they ended up walking to the stargazing place Elaine had in mind. _Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay here awhile, even with everything still up in the air. _"Mind if we stay here for a little bit?" she asked timidly. "Not at all." he replied. They sat down side by side against a big rock. Again, they were silent for a while, but eventually Elaine found herself speaking. "My dad used to take me here when I was little. Whenever my brothers were really getting on my nerves, he'd sneak me out and we'd just sit here and look up at the sky. I loved those nights." Alex smiled and looked up at the sky himself. "I see what you mean about the stars; it's incredible how many there are. I never gave them much thought, you know? Kind of wishing I had now." Elaine leaned back a bit more and rested her head on Alex's shoulder. He replied by putting his arm around her. After a few seconds he asked, "So… how are you feeling?"

"A little bit better, thanks. Now that the funeral's over and I've had that closure, I'm just relieved it's taken care of. Also, despite all the stress, it's been good reconnecting with everyone. I hadn't realized how much I'd lost touch."

"Do you think they like me?"

She looked up at him and smiled sincerely, "They love you."

"I'm glad." he said as he kissed her head. Once more she glanced up at him, smiled softly, and said, "I can't thank you enough for coming here for me."

"You don't need to thank me." They looked at each other both wanting to kiss the other, but were unsure if they should. After a moment of contemplating, they delicately and semi-quickly brushed each other's lips. "I do have one question though…" Elaine then said. He inquired, "What's that?"

"How did you find me? I didn't think I ever told you the address."

"I realized that after I got here... I had to call Tony and see if he could find anything with the address. He found it in your planner, I hope that was okay. I would have checked with you but I didn't have a number either." Elaine laughed, "That's fine; I figured it was something like that. I was just curious. I really am glad that you came up here. I don't think I could have handled this without you."

"I'm glad too." They sat under the stars for a while longer before they began walking home. It was a lovely night; they didn't even need their jackets. Alex was particularly enjoying the fresh, clean air. The only thing that would have made this time better would be if they could get their talk over with so they could try and go back to how they were before Arnie came back—or better. Despite his not wanting to talk about things beforehand, he did now; they were in a different situation. Yes, it was terrible and very sad that Elaine's aunt had to die, but somehow there was some good that came out of it. He proved to himself (and hopefully her) that no matter what happens that his love for her reigns over all. The way he had been feeling before, he wasn't in the mind frame of mind to want to try and work things out. He was done with it all and couldn't bear the thought of things getting better just for it to crash all over again. Thoughts like, 'what if the next time it was her ex-husband?' had haunted him. He then started to think about Phyllis, what a way to thank her. Plus he felt bad that her relationship didn't work out. But he knew that he and Elaine would need a fresh start, and he presumed there'd be some limitations (not only for him but for her as well). After this past week with her and her family, it would be worth it. He saw a side of her he never knew. Not a bad side, he knew any bad she was showing was just from the situation and the stress. She appeared to be more demure around them; he was used to a louder and bolder Elaine. Of course he loved that Elaine, that's the one he fell in love with; but it her quieter and more reserved side was quite endearing. Elaine noticed that Alex was deep in thought, she was tempted to ask what he was thinking about, but by the way he kept glancing in her direction, she knew that it was something to do with her. She assumed it was good by the smile on his lips, so instead she simply wrapped an arm around his waist as they continued to walk.


	30. Perfect

They spent two more days in Buffalo, just to take care of some final things and to visit a bit more. The night before they were set to leave, Alex noticed that Elaine had been sitting on the window seat and looking outside for quite some time. He was sitting on the bed reading so he set his book down, took off his glasses and asked, "Hey... you okay?" She jumped a bit, being startled by his voice; she had been very deep in thought. "Yeah." she sighed. Alex sat on the edge of the bed. "You sure? You haven't said anything for a while." Elaine thought a moment before responding. She'd been thinking of how to bring up the discussion they needed to have. Part of her felt like here and now would be the place, but another part didn't want to ruin the time they'd had. Even though they hadn't really been romantic towards each other and despite their reasons for being there, she'd had a nice time. The quiet time they'd spent together had been much needed too. She really had to think things through. If the conversation were to go badly, would she want it to be the last memory in this house? Her aunt wrote in the will that the house was to be sold and the money to go to her nieces and nephews, Elaine and her brothers got a bit too, but comparatively not much. She wasn't very interested in the money; she would much rather have her aunt back. She looked over at Alex; he'd been so wonderful this past week. She was so lucky to be with someone like him; especially seeing as he did this despite his anger towards everything that had happened. _It's now or never, _she finally decided. "Alex..." she started nervously, "I think we should talk... you know, about us and everything that's happened. When we get back home I want it to be a fresh start for us, even if we aren't together." Alex got up and joined her on the window seat. "I hope that we'll be together." Elaine smiled, "You do?" Taking her hand, he assured, "Of course I do."

"Alex, I am so sorry about anything. I can't believe I didn't see it. I'm such a jerk. You've been so wonderful through it all and especially now. I don't deserve someone as great as you. I didn't deserve you coming here after what I did to you. I was so selfish, and blind, and just… a **huge** jerk."

"I don't want to here anymore of that kind of talk, you got that?" he insisted. She rolled her eyes, "Come on, you know I was a jerk. I didn't respect your wishes and you were absolutely right about everything. I took advantage of your trust."

"You're not the only one to blame, I should have told you how I was feeling before it got out of hand, I shouldn't have said a lot of the things I said, and I should have told you about Phyllis. But I promise you we didn't do anything more than go to a few friendly dinners and movies. No one is worth the risk of losing you. I should have trusted you. And I definitely shouldn't have convinced myself that Arnie was the reason why we haven't been intimate. I just couldn't help but wonder... because if it's anything I'm doing I want to know so I can change."

"It is most certainly not you. And I can see now how I've led you to that conclusion. I'm so, so sorry. I know I haven't been fair to you. I know that this has been really hard for you and I'm sorry about how bitter I've gotten when you bring it up..." She finally was able to admit to him as she began to tear up, "I'm just so terrified." Alex looked at her with a confused expression. "Terrified?" he questioned. "Of what?" She took a deep breath, "I'm terrified that we'll ruin what we have."

"What are you talking about, Elaine? How would that ruin anything?"

"So many reasons: first, look how rushing into things with other guys worked out. They're long gone—not that I miss them, but I don't want you to be one of them. Second, we did need to make a healthy transition from friends to lovers… and I know that we've successfully done that—more or less—but I'm still scared. Third, our relationship is so strongly based on the friendship we had and the attraction we felt during that time. What if we've just been kidding ourselves this whole time and after a night together we realize what a mistake we've made? I couldn't bear it. Fourth, our night in Europe together was so wonderful. I don't want to disappoint you if it isn't as wonderful again. There's just so much at stake here and I never saw it so clearly until now. Alex, I don't want to lose you, I love you so much." Alex put his hands on Elaine's shoulders. "Elaine, why didn't you ever tell me what was going on?"

"Because it took me a while to realize; I knew that there was something stopping me that I couldn't figure out, but it really hit me when I was leaving Arnie's when he said to me something about how anyone can see that we're in love with our friendship more so than each other. He pointed it out to me that that's why I hadn't slept with you because I knew that the minute we did we were through. I don't feel as strongly as he said I did, but it still made a lot of sense."

"Elaine, listen to me. If it wasn't for our friendship we never would have fallen in love in the first place. Naturally, our past is always going to be part of our relationship, but that's a good thing. We've already gone through most of the things couples go through. We've seen each other at our unimaginable worsts and our absolute bests. There's no erasing our friendship; and why should we? Because of our past we're who we are—together—today. Of course Arnie would say something like that; he wants you to think those things so you'll go running back to him."

She wiped her eyes, "Well I'm not running back to him. He used me and I never want to see him again. But Alex, it really did make sense when he said it; whether he meant it or not it really made me realize how afraid I am. If we hadn't spent that night together in Europe, this wouldn't be as big an issue. There'd be nothing to compare too and there'd be so much less pressure." Alex sighed and then said, "Alright… come here." He pulled her closer to him in order to reach her better. Placing one of his hands on her cheek, he began, "What happened between me and my friend Elaine in Europe was an entirely different situation. There were the four years of trying not to admit to any feelings prior, knowing it was only for one night, my depression from the entire trip, the normal 'first time' feelings, being in a romantic atmosphere, and the fact I was with **you**, my best **friend**; the fact that we were allowing ourselves to be so close to one another. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. Elaine, I'm not one of those guys who's just in it for the pleasure—not with you. I love you so much and I want to be near to you. I know, it wasn't right for me to get on you about it the way I did, and it wasn't fair to try and get you to change your mind. I'm truly sorry about that. But remember you also mentioned wanting to wait until the perfect moment. The perfect moment doesn't have to consist of location or what we've already done: it consists of you and I being together. So while our past plays a big part, it shouldn't stop us from going further in our relationship; and I'm not just talking about the physical part. In the meantime, until you're ready, I'll try my very best to give you the space you need. As much as I'm ready, I **do** want you to be ready. I'll do my best not to bring it up again. Whenever you're ready just say the word: even if it takes years. I just know that I don't want to lose you because you're one of the best things that's ever happened to me." He couldn't help but get emotional himself. Flinging her arms around his neck, she hugged him as securely as she could. She couldn't believe what he'd just said; it was probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. She managed to laugh through her tears and said, "And I'm not supposed to wonder what I did to be blessed with someone like you? I really don't think I deserve you." He managed to chuckle through his own, "Nope, no wondering." Growing serious again, Elaine repeated, "But I really haven't treated you well. Not recently."

"I've made some mistakes too. What's done is done. All that matters is where we are now and where we're headed." Elaine just smiled as she looked at him. Alex said once again, "I love you so much." She replied, "And I love you so much." Continuing to look at each other a few seconds longer, they then leaned in closely. Slowly their kisses grew more passionate, caring, and loving. They continued for quite a while: it'd been a rather long time since they'd done so. Elaine couldn't stop thinking about what he had said to her. _He really does love me, doesn't he? He's in it forever… he's really here to stay… _She pulled away and sat up. With Alex's hand remaining on her shoulder, he reached up and ran his fingers through her hair before he sat up himself. "Well…" he sighed. "I guess we should probably get some sleep, huh?" He started standing up but she pulled him back. "Wait a minute…"

"What?" he questioned. She kissed him once more before taking his hands and standing up. "Come on." she said timidly as she pulled him up and towards the bed. Alex was taken aback and was a bit fearful that she was only doing this because of the moment and what was said. "Wait a minute, Elaine. I don't want you to do this because you feel you have too. I only want you to do this if you **really **feel ready. If this is all because of what I said and because you feel obligated I don't want to do this." She pulled him close and caressed his cheek, "I'm not doing this because I feel obligated. I'm doing this because I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" he nervously looked for reassurance. He wanted it to be great as well and though, as he said, it was them being together that counted, he still wanted it to be wonderful. If she wasn't ready he didn't want to push her… not anymore. "I'm sure. You've beyond proven to me how much you love me and that you're here for me no matter what. We just went through the most terrible fight of our lives, we're away from any distractions from home, and we can't get more intimate than a quiet mansion in the forest." She grinned promisingly and finished, "It's **perfect**."

Alex smiled in agreement, "I love you, Elaine."

"I love you, Alex."


	31. Back To New York

"This is the perfect memory." Elaine found herself thinking aloud as they lay side by side. "What do you mean?" Alex questioned as he took her hand. "Oh nothing…" she answered. "I was just thinking that seeing as this is the last time I'll ever be in this house, this was a perfect last memory." Not quite sure how to respond, he just kissed her forehead. "This was even more perfect than I imagined perfect to be." After a moment, she heard how silly she was sounding and giggled, "I'm sorry, I'm just babbling." He laughed as well, "It's alright, I don't mind." Intentionally trying to sound silly, though he meant it, he added, "I like the sound of your voice, I could listen to you forever." Laughing again, they looked at each other and then kissed. A feeling came over them, one neither could really describe. It was a safe, happy, relaxed and calm feeling; a feeling like everything was right. Eventually, they were able to fall asleep.

The next morning they took their time getting out of bed, getting showered, getting dressed and ready, and packing up to go home.

Elaine was cleaning out her room, trying to make sure she had everything. She came across a lot of things she hadn't thought about in years. School notebooks, sketchbooks, and journals—to name a few. She opened up one of the journals and was going down memory lane. Alex came out of the bathroom and noticed the book in Elaine's hand. "What's that you've got?" he asked curiously. "One of my old journals... I used to write in them all the time. I haven't done that for years." She handed him the one she had in her hand to show him. He flipped through it a bit and then noticed, "This is written like a story book."

"I know; I used to be obsessed with books; especially fairytales."

"I can see that." he grinned. Elaine blushed, "I was a pretty silly kid. My family always said that my head was up in the clouds."

"That's not such a bad thing." he set the book down. "I can't wait to read them all."

As Elaine was putting on her makeup Alex stood in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom, "Elaine… we didn't think something through." Without turning from the mirror she asked, "What's that?"

"We didn't get any bags or anything to take what we bought home." She paused, and then started laughing. "Oops." Setting down her mascara down on the edge of the sink, she went into the bedroom and looked at the pile of clothes on the bed. "Hmm… we didn't save the shopping bags, did we?" He shook his head, "Nope."

"Can you go downstairs and see if there's anything we can use? I'll come help after I finish my makeup, okay?"

"Sure." He started to walk to the door but she stopped him by grabbing his hand. "What?" he asked. She then pulled him into an ardent and lengthy kiss. When she pulled away he smiled and questioned, "What was that for?"

"No reason… just figured I would before I put on my lipstick." She winked.

Alex went downstairs into the kitchen to look for some shopping bags. In the process of doing so he accidentally knocked over a tray of silverware, causing a huge crash. As he was picking them up Tommy came in to see what had made the noise. "Oh okay, it's you." Alex laughed nervously as he continued to pick them up. "Sorry about that, I was just looking for some shopping bags and ended up knocking these over."

"No problem; here let me help you." he kneeled down and starting picking them up. "Thanks."

"So what do you need shopping bags for?"

"When Elaine and I went and got clothes, we didn't think about how to bring them home with us." Tommy chuckled before offering, "Well I'm sure you guys could use Aunt Claire's suitcases. I don't think the others would mind." They stood up having finished cleaning up. "Oh really? That'd be great, thanks."

"What on Earth was that noise?" Elaine asked as she entered the kitchen while putting on her earrings. "Alex hates the silverware." Tommy joked causing them all to laugh. "I told him that you guys could have Aunt Claire's luggage set."

"Oh that'd be good." she said still smiling. Tommy observed, "Well I'm glad to see that you're happy today. I was getting worried about how down you were." She glanced over at Alex and said with a grin, "Thanks… What can I say? Alex knows how to cheer me up."

They finished packing, said their goodbyes to the family, took one last walk around the house, and then they were on their way home.

"Are you sure you want me to come in? I mean, you haven't seen the kids for over a week and isn't there some sort of talk you have to have with them about your aunt?" Alex asked and Elaine answered, "Yes, I'm sure. They've missed you terribly and they knew that things weren't really great between us before we left. They'll be happy to see you—and to see you and me together. They weren't too close to her, and they've been through deaths before, so there isn't too much to talk about unless they need too." Alex nodded and they went into her apartment. "We're home!" she called. Jason and Jennifer ran and hugged her, then noticing Alex, they hugged him as well. "I missed you guys!" she said. "We missed you too, Mommy. And we missed you Alex."

"I missed you as well." he smiled.

Elaine thanked Tony over and over. He insisted that it was no trouble and that the kids were wonderful. He stayed a little while and chatted with her and Alex before leaving. Elaine said Alex could go too if he wanted, unless he wanted to stay and have a quiet evening with her in the kids. The kids decided for him and so he stayed. They ordered a pizza and all were cuddled on the couch watching television until the kids ended up falling asleep—Alex even dozed off as well. Elaine probably could have slept herself, but she had a lot going through her mind. She looked at Alex and the kids, thinking of how lucky she was to have them in her life. Everything had seemed to have fallen apart thanks to Arnie, but now—somehow—everything was better than ever. Her relationship with Alex had never felt more right. Looking at him now, she saw a promising future. She saw herself married to him, she saw herself having children with him, she saw herself growing old with him—she loved every single thought that popped into her head. Jason and Jennifer approved too, which made everything even more splendid. She eventually ended up drifting off to sleep and later was woken by Alex snuggling next to her. "Hi." she said in a dry and sleepy voice. "Where did the kids go?"

"I tucked them in." he answered. "Thanks." she said as she rested her hand on his arm (which was around her stomach) and closed her eyes again. "You're welcome." He kissed her cheek, "I guess I should be leaving here in a few minutes." She turned so she was facing him, grinned and playfully said, "Good luck, because you're going to have to get me to let go before you go anywhere." With that, he very lightly attempted to push her away. After a few seconds, he 'gave up' and held her tightly. "Oh well, I tried. Guess I'll have to stay here." Elaine laughed and kissed him softly. "Good… I wouldn't want you anywhere else."

**The End.**


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